There's More Than One President of the USA
by anerdwhowantstowrite
Summary: I started this fic on AO3 over 5 years ago. I abandoned the account and left this story unfinished. I want to finally give my best shot at finishing this story and do my utmost to get it 100% complete.
1. Chapter 1

There's More Than One President of The USA?

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/2709248.

**Rating**: Mature

**Archive Warning**: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death

**Category**: F/M, M/M

**Fandom**: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan

**Relationship**: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin/Sirius Black

**Character**: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo, Will Solace, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, Chiron (Percy Jackson), Apollo (Percy Jackson), Hecate (Percy Jackson), Tyson (Percy Jackson), Grover Underwood, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Rubeus Hagrid, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Dolores Umbridge, Tom Riddle | Voldemort

**Series**: Part 1 of When Heroes Go To Hogwarts

**Published**: 2014-12-02

**Completed**: 2015-01-04

**Chapters**: 27/27

**Words**: 35513

There's More Than One President of The USA? by nerdgirl4life (orphan_account)

Summary

A year and a half after the events of Blood of Olympus and during the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The timeline has been altered. The Demigods of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter are no longer at odds, the world is safe and CHB has a new Camp Director. Things are looking up for our heroes. All of this changes when Chiron gets a disturbing message from his old friend Albus Dumbledore. Our heroes are needed. There's a whole community of people that have been kept a secret from the demigods for millennia and now they need help. Hecate herself comes and asks our heroes for help.

**Part 1 of 4**

Prologue

LEO

If you've ever sat back and wondered if the world was out to get you, then you might have something in common with me and my friends. The Fates are not kind to us, and in all honesty I think the bat-grandmas just have it out for us. Every time one of us gets to a point where we can honestly say, "Yes, I am happy," something inevitably goes wrong. We never get the long end of the stick. And even after we helped save the universe, especially me because I actually gave my life for the cause, we still have to look over our shoulders and make sure we aren't on the menu for the Minotaur or Kelli, the very vengeful cheerleader.

I guess I should be more clear: My name is Leo 'Hot Stuff' Valdez, and I'm a demigod son of Hephaestus with a smoking hot girlfriend who used to be immortal. In short, I'm one of the unluckiest 17-year-olds who currently walk the planet. The other winners of that award go to my two best friends, who happen to be dating, Jason and Piper. There are other demigods, Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Nico, Reyna, Nyssa, Lacy, Mitchell, Butch, Lou Ellen, Will, Travis, Connor (you get the idea), etc., who have it just as bad if not worse than I do.

But honestly, I think Percy and Annabeth and Nico di Angelo have all had it the worst. I mean walking through the Ancient Lands is bad enough, but getting caught in Tartarus alone or falling into it because you don't want to lose the love of your life; these three deserve a little peace. But here come the big bad Fates ready to throw us into another adventure all because the world is ending, again. I mean come on! We literally just saved the thing a year and a half ago! Can't we get a little vacation?

If you want to know what in Hades I'm talking about, by all means, keep reading. If, however, you find that you have the same problems we do then I highly suggest you find Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter fast. It might just mean you're a demigod and if you are, the monsters will be coming for you. Find someone who looks like a Satyr and run!

Chapter 1 

LEO

If you count the sun shining in the sky it was just an average day at Camp Half-Blood. If you consider the fact that once again the world just might end and needed help being saved by the most powerful demigods of the age, then it's a really bad day to be a demigod. Chiron, the centaur in charge of training young heroes and our main camp counselor, got a call from an old friend of his.

Apparently it was a really big deal for this guy to even call because Chiron came around and woke up the demigods he knew would be needed. Those demigods are: Percy Jackson super-powerful son of Poseidon, Jason Grace super-powerful son of Jupiter, Nico di Angelo super powerful son of Hades, Piper McLean (yeah her dad is famous, we know) super-powerful daughter of Aphrodite, Annabeth Chase super-smart super-bad-ass daughter of Athena, and me: Leo 'Hot Stuff' Valdez powerful son of Hephaestus (I don't like to brag). There were two other demigods we needed, but apparently it's like 1 am in California and they couldn't be bothered to wake up.

We were all gathered around the Ping-Pong table in the War Room and some of us were not doing so well with being woken up at this ungodly hour. Percy and Nico had terrible bed heads, but they were just the worst of the guys. Annabeth's usually messy-but-kempt blonde locks were teased into a mini afro around her head. She'd obviously tried to tame it and put it in a bun, but that hadn't worked out as well as she probably would have liked. Piper, not surprisingly, looked the best of all of us. Chiron despite being the most alert of us all was definitely not the most put together. His fur was matted and his eyes were slightly sunken as if he'd been pacing all night deciding if he should wake us up.

"I apologize for the abruptness of this meeting, but I fear that if we had not met so early that we would stir a panic with the other campers. I called you all here to discuss a very troubling matter. I fear that some of Hecate's blessed mortals are in grave danger. If it had been anyone else who had contacted me, I would have passed it off to the gods for consideration and even then, I would not have sent any of you. It is too much for Fate to ask of you. Thrice some of you in this room have saved the world and thrice I pleaded with the Fates to give you rest; you deserved peace after having fought so hard and lost so much. I fear that this may be too much to ask of you so soon after your triumph over Gaea, but I know I must ask it of you. However, if any of you deem yourselves deserving of rest I will not press upon you to assist me. I only ask that you listen and decide whether or not you will help."

Chiron let his words pass over the room. After a moment Percy made eye contact with each of us in the room. We'd all nodded our agreement to at least listen.

"Chiron, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we will listen. I can't promise any of us will agree to help, but we will listen."

Percy looked like he was just pulled out of a dryer. His hair stood up in a lot of different directions and he had dried drool coating his left shoulder. But even with his bed-head, Percy Jackson could have led all of us into a battle and we'd all have followed. We all nodded to Chiron to begin telling us what was so important that we had to miss out on our beauty rest.

"Well, I thank all of you. Now, it is quite a tale. I suggest perhaps splashing some water on your faces and maybe even some coffee before we begin." Thinking that he might be right we all got up and made our way to the kitchenette.

"So, who do you think these 'blessed of Hecate' are, and why are none of her children here to clue us in?" Annabeth was way too awake to be asking those deep philosophical questions at 4 am.

"Who knows? Maybe they're really powerful with magic and none of the campers here would know what was happening." Piper guessed. Surprisingly she and Annabeth (well that wasn't surprising) were the most awake of any of us. The girls continued to speculate what the cause of it all was even after we all got our coffee and settled back in around the table.

"I hope not to bore you, and I don't think I will, but I know that my story will be long and tedious. Despite all this do try and remain alert. You'll need all the details before you can decide whether or not to participate."

He looked all around at us and then to the IM he was currently having with Frank, Hazel and Reyna. Frank Zhang, son of Mars and Legacy of Neptune, Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto and student of Hecate, and Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Daughter of Bellona were all looking back at us through the mist of a fountain in the corner of the room facing the head of the ping pong table where Chiron had taken his place. He must have gotten through to the female praetor of New Rome. The male praetor could sleep deeper than a bear in hibernation. Reyna spoke for the three in Camp Jupiter.

"Chiron, we are as alert as we're going to get. Please, tell us what's happening." Chiron nodded and began.

"The first thing you need to understand is that just like the gods kept the Roman and Greek demigods from each other to keep peace, the gods also kept another group of powerful humans a secret from the rest of their children. That being said, these humans are not demigods. They are merely the product of a blessing from the goddess Hecate. Millennia ago even before the first stone was placed in the foundations of the Parthenon, Hecate gave a magical blessing to a small group of humans. These were followers of hers who had great power over the Mist. She sought to create her own kind of demigod child without the hassle of connecting with humans to sire offspring. These were the first witches and wizards. She taught them spells that controlled everything from lifting a platter of food from one place to the next to transfiguring pincushions into porcupines. These humans were very powerful. She guided them for eons but after long years of having less than full control over their abilities, they decided to teach themselves. A few centuries after Rome, there were four of these blessed that were the most powerful witches and wizards ever to be born of Hecate's blessing. Their names were Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin."

While the others all just chuckled or giggled at the sound of those ridiculous names, I let out a roar of a laugh and simply was incapable of turning it off.

"Leo!"

Piper, Hazel, Jason, Nico, and Reyna all shouted my name indignantly at the same time.

Between breaths, "Sorry! Those names though! They were just too much!"

After a look from Annabeth I promptly shut up. Chiron chuckled at that but kept going. "Yes, they did have peculiar names, didn't they? Well, as I said, they were the four most powerful born under Hecate's blessing. Being powerful as they were, they founded a school for witches and wizards to practice and learn more about magic. The four of them were very widely known in Europe and Asia; however, they only chose students from England, Scotland, Ireland, and the very Northern-most parts of France. Now, knowing that the school they founded was only for those of the British Isles, what could we assume?"

Chiron looked at Annabeth and Reyna (well, I assumed it was Reyna because I couldn't really tell, of the three looking through the fountain, which one he addressed), but it was Nico who spoke: "There were other schools founded around the same time. The witches and wizards may not have been as powerful as the ones in Britain, but that didn't mean they couldn't form schools of their own."

Only after knowing Nico for a little over a year would that not have surprised the demigods around the table. For a fifteen year old who spent most of his formative school years in an enchanted hotel or the Underworld, Nico was pretty smart. We all still jumped a little when he answered though.

"That is absolutely correct. To my knowledge, and it is very limited, there are schools for the instruction of these blessed humans in every country of the world. I know of at least one in the US, but I'm certain that there are more. The population of the US would deem at least three such schools existed within our borders. Now these schools weren't for everyone, at least at first. The wealthy tended to be able to send their children to school more readily than most, but after about 500 years the school, the one that the Four founded, Hogwarts was able to take in children who weren't as well off as some. Now, schools in America, where do they get their money from?"

This was turning into a History class fast, but for some reason we actually wanted to participate. "Well, the government funds all the public schools, but private schools are well, privately funded."

Score one for my man Percy! Some of us, myself not included, dropped our jaws and some of us, not me, spat our coffee across the table and were glared at by those across from us (Sorry Nico!).

"Excellent." Chiron just ignored us and kept on rolling out the information. "So, where then does that leave the magic schools?" I was stumped. If the gods had hidden the magic people from us demigods, surely they were hidden from the mortals too, right?

Annabeth was apparently on the same wavelength as me. "Well, they'd need government funds, but surely, Chiron, you can't expect us to believe that the gods would allow the mortals to know about magic users and not us demigods?"

Chiron smiled before continuing. "No, that isn't what I'm suggesting at all." Piper then joined the conversation.

"Wait, you can't mean-" She looked at Annabeth to see if they were on the same page. Annabeth's eyes were wide and she looked very skeptical.

"Chiron," Piper continued, "You don't mean to say that the magic users have their own government, do you?"

"Well, Piper, that is precisely what I'm implying." This time all nine of our jaws dropped. The magic users had their own government?

"So wait," I had to open my big mouth, that's what it's there for after all. "You mean there are two Presidents of the good ol' USofA? That would be impossible, wouldn't it? I mean the magic users must be just as numerous as we are!" I let that sink in for a second. "There are only six billion people in the world, right? They aren't lying about that, are they?"

Annabeth, Piper and Reyna all tried to talk at once, but Chiron silenced them with a look as he raised his hand to get their attention. "I know that it is going to be very hard for you to understand this, but yes, there are two leaders of every country where a leader is elected. In the countries where there are Tyrants the elected leader of the magic community is always trying to help influence said Tyrant to relinquish power to the people. So for the USA President Clinton is the mortal President, and President Grimm is the Magical Communities President. That being said, the President of the Magical Community is not in control of Mortal politics and vice versa. They are entities of their own and when situations arise in which the Mortal world is in danger, the Magic President alerts the Mortal one of the danger. The same goes for any country where there is an elected leader to alert." Chiron let us absorb the vast amounts of information he'd just thrown at us. It was going to be a long night.

ANNABETH

There was no way in Hades that this was possible. Yes, the way Chiron described it there could be a slight possibility of a whole community of people that weren't obligated to listen to or obey the laws of the land in which they lived. No, there had to be something she was missing. This just didn't make sense!

"Chiron, this just doesn't make sense!" I hadn't meant to shout, once I registered that I had most definitely raised my voice, I had the good grace to wince at my outburst. "Sorry. I just don't see how there are whole communities of people in every country around the world, in which a leader is elected, where people don't have to abide by the laws of the country they live in! Do they call themselves Americans? If so, then do they practice magic in such a way that they don't endanger the lives of the mortals they surround? If so, is there a sect within the magic community that lives among the mortals? If so-"

''Annabeth!" Percy, who'd unceremoniously put his hand over my mouth, cut me off. I shot him a glare, but he gave me his wolf stare in return. I'd learned to respect the wolf stare. After a moment he gave me a look that said are you going to calm down? I nodded and apologized to Chiron, "I didn't mean to get so hostile, but I was just-"

"-Passionately stating your concerns. Annabeth I am not angry with you. These are the questions I had myself when I first learned of the existence of these humans. But to ease your mind a little, let me get back to my story."

Well, that effectively shut me up. Chiron was the only person, besides maybe Hazel, who could politely ask you to be quiet and at the same time have a double meaning in their tone. Chiron wasn't mad he was exasperated. But I knew it wasn't directed at me. He'd obviously been up all night trying to decide if he was going to worry us with the goings on in this magical world we'd all agreed to step into. Honestly, I thought he was going to send us on another quest and he was having a hard time deciding if he'd ask us to take up the challenge. I'm not usually that far off when it comes to Chiron, so maybe there was a quest in this after all. We just had to wait to figure out what on earth it could be.

"As I was saying before, Hecate blessed a small group of people with the power over magic. Now, this power had to be channeled because what the goddess did not realize was that she had given to man what they could not control. So she taught a smaller sect of the people she'd blessed the art and skill of wand making. A wand is essentially a stick carved from the root of a strong tree, with a core of some magical animal, usually a dragon heartstring, a unicorn tail, or a phoenix tail, and infused with the ability to find the one person who could channel their energies through it. Simply put, the wand chooses the wizard or witch. This sounds incredibly hard to believe, but ask Percy what happened when he first held Anaklusmos. What he describes is the general idea behind the wands."

All nine of us were suddenly looking to the person on my right. Percy had once told me what it had felt like when he'd first held Riptide. I'd asked him why it returned to his pocket when he lost it. I knew that Chiron had used it before Percy, but he always had to go and get it. It never returned to him the way it did for Percy.

"Well, it was a long time ago," he looked at me and I smiled with a slight nod. If he needed me to, I could fill in the details. He smiled back at me, "but I'll do my best." Then he turned back to Chiron as though addressing him would help him remember. "It was the field trip to the museum. You were my teacher at Yancy. We were at lunch, and Nancy Bobofit was being a little σωρός κοπριάς and I used, what were then considered weak, my powers over water and water-fisted her into the fountain."

I had to crack a smile at that. The rest of them laughed, but none of them had known Percy then. Even Nico hadn't seen his 'weak' control of the water. Nico came along after Percy had mastered at least some of his gifts over the water. I was one of the first people to experience those gifts, well, Clarisse and me and some of the other Ares kids. I couldn't remember that day without smiling. "Anyway, Mrs. Dodds, my pre-algebra teacher, was always looking for an excuse to punish me and when Nancy came up to her complaining that I had pushed her into the water, well old Mrs. Dodds couldn't help but take me away to scold me. Well she started asking questions about the summer solstice and returning what was stolen and I got really confused. Well she decided that I was lying and she turned into a Fu-Kindly One. I just about pooped my pants, but then Mr. Bruner, or Chiron, came out of nowhere, shouted, 'What ho,' and tossed me this pen and it had become a sword. Once the hilt was in my hand-" He paused as if looking for the right words to get across to us what had become second nature to him.

"When you told me this story a few years back, you told me that it felt like you'd always known that sword." He gave me a grateful smile and picked up where he'd left off.

"Exactly! It was like coming home to blue cookies on the table! It just felt right. Of course I was slicing through my teacher with a sword a split second later, but yea, it felt like home."

He grabbed my hand from where it was in my lap and interlaced our fingers. Percy wasn't the only one who'd found home in sensation from touch. Every time he took my hand in his I felt like that. I looked up at him and we shared a smile. Both our cheeks flushed and we turned our attention back to Chiron.

"Thank you Percy. Now, the goddess gave them their magic, gave them a way to control it, and taught them spells for all different kinds of things. She had blessed them and what did they do? Oh, a millennium passed before they began to turn from her, but they did turn. And when they did, she cursed one of their most powerful wizards. I think that she would have cursed them all, but that would have meant cursing all of the descendants of the humans that she had loved and taught. She chose to curse the most arrogant of the Four.

He, Salazar Slytherin, was born a Parsletounge. This is the ability to converse with snakes. Unlike a son of Poseidon's ability to converse with any form of horse, the Parseltongue is a language. None without the gift can understand it. However, if you were to study another human with this ability you could learn phrases that would assist you in keeping snakes from being an enemy. This was not the curse Hecate bestowed upon him, but it may as well have been. Of the Four, Slytherin was the closest to the dark.

The Four created a school in which there were four houses. I suppose it would be the equivalent of four Camps. The houses were as different as the founders themselves, and yet they all aimed to learn the same things. Those chosen by Gryffindor were brave of heart and courageous in the face of danger. Those chosen by Ravenclaw were those who valued time spent in learning and edifying the mind. Those chosen by Hufflepuff, more of a jack-of-all-trades sort, were known for their purity of heart, good character in the face of wrong and loyal above all. And finally those chosen by Slytherin were cunning, strategic and most important of all of a pure bloodline. This meant that the father and the mother of the student could trace their lineage all the way back to the first witches and wizards. He was the only one of the founders who had put a blood status requirement on his students. This is why, centuries later, the House of Slytherin is known to produce evil witches and wizards.

This was Hecate's curse: one of Slytherin's 'noble blood' would in turn become the greatest evil the world of magic had ever seen. In turn, it would be defeated by one of impure birth, a half-blood, one of mortal and magical blood. And to add further insult to injury, this child would have the heart of a lion. It was Hecate's way of saying that the one who would eventually defeat Slytherin's heir would be one of Gryffindor's. As the years went on, the founders wanted to change some of the parts of the school they'd built. They all desired to make their houses after what they saw as their best qualities, but Slytherin wanted to restrict the others more on their choices by making the school for those of pure blood only. He and Gryffindor became violent, so violent that they dueled. Understand that dueling with magic is much like dueling with weapons, but it is a very different form of duel. The mind is the most important part of the duel in either case, but for advanced witches and wizards; they can summon the magic from within them that they need not even speak the spells aloud. They still need their wands, but having a silent duel is perhaps the most dangerous of all. Gryffindor was able to disarm Slytherin and in doing so set the fate of the school.

The rivalry between houses was always a friendly competition before then. After the duel between the male founders, however, they became more hostile. Slytherin became the least popular house at Hogwarts and in time it became known for the house with students who practiced very dark sorts of magic. As the other three founders got older, they realized they needed a way to continue to sort students into houses after they had gone. For the next few years, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff worked tirelessly on creating a magic object that would in turn, sort students for what house would suit them best. So now, millennia later no matter who puts on the sorting hat, they go into the house where the Four would have put them. The sorting of students into houses became popular with the other magic schools, but I do know that the schools for magic here in America do not have such stipulations. I suppose the Greeks are the Hogwarts of demigods; here you bunk with you siblings whereas in New Rome, you bunk with those who would speak for you, trust you, and step up to say, 'I will become responsible for this new recruit.'"

Chiron's let his words settle over the group of us.

"So," I needed to at least make one thing clear, "if all of the future descendants of Slytherin, and all those in his house were cursed, has this curse come to fruition? This child of 'noble blood', has he been found? Is this why your friend contacted you? Do they need our help?"

I had tried to keep it to one question, but I was a child of Athena and it was 4 am. What did they expect? Chiron allowed me my four questions though and with each one he gained more pride and more pain in his questions. It was as if he was watching me become a great success, which all of us had become, yet also watching me lose everything important to me in the process. It was hard to see him like this.

With that sad smile he addressed me, "Annabeth, you always did ask the right questions. I wanted all of you to know the history of Hecate's blessed mortals so that in turn you could decide if helping them is something you felt was worthy of your gifts. The man who contacted me has done so a few times over the years asking if I would send help. About forty years ago the cursed child was found. His name then was Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was an orphan son of a witch and a mortal. My friend, the one who contacted me, found him. Then, my friend was a teacher at Hogwarts. He'd lived among the mortals and when the need arose to fetch a student in person, he was the one the school sent to tell their parents, if they had any, what was going on. So when this boy, who was eleven years old, was to be given a spot at Hogwarts my friend, Albus Dumbledore, went to alert him to his heritage. The boy had been in an orphanage his entire life. The mortal women who were in charge of the orphanage were afraid of the boy. He was a powerful wizard after all, and no one knew why the other children were so frightened of him. Dumbledore explained to him who he was, who Tom was, and that there was a place for him at Hogwarts.

The child accepted his invitation and Dumbledore didn't see him again until the first of September, the beginning of the school term. No one knew that Tom Riddle was the child cursed, and to be honest if you asked a witch or wizard living today where their magic comes from, I don't think they could tell you that they had ancestors blessed by a goddess. This is problematic in that by ignoring their heritage the witches and wizards had no reason to expect that one day one of the students they taught at their school would become a threat to all magic users across the world. Dumbledore watched this child become integrated in the lives of other students, watched him excel in his classes, and all the while in the back on his mind he knew that there was something wrong. The boy had been a bully at the orphanage so from the first day Tom arrived at Hogwarts, Dumbledore watched him with particular interest. The boy had gathered many followers. And noticing that they were indeed followers and not friends, Dumbledore grew more wary of the child's intentions.

After the boy graduated years passed and no one heard good or bad news about him, well no one kept as good an ear to the ground as Dumbledore. He alone in the Wizard World had searched for clues in ancient texts as to what could be happening. In searching he found the truth behind the magic of witches and wizards.

He discovered the goddess Hecate's blessing and he searched for a way to communicate with her, if she did indeed exist. He was surprised that at that moment she appeared to him. She gave him a scroll that detailed the curse, when and why it came to be and what it meant. She hinted at the existence of demigods and gave him a drachma to contact me. It was, to say the least, a most enlightening conversation. Then, after Dumbledore had become headmaster of Hogwarts, Tom Riddle came back. He was looking for a job as a teacher. Now, this was about twenty years ago. Knowing that Tom Riddle had been practicing dark magic, Dumbledore was not about to give him a job molding the minds of children. Taking this as a great insult, Tom Riddle left leaving another curse upon the school. You see, ever since Dumbledore refused Tom Riddle a teaching position in Defense Against the Dark Arts no one has held the post for more than one year. Now, after leaving school Tom requested that his followers, his Death Eaters-,"

Leo and Percy busted a gut at that. "Who would want to eat Thanatos?" Chiron allowed himself a chuckle at that. Before Percy could say anything else I slapped him lightly and he sobered up quickly. A look at Leo and he did the same.

"Annabeth, are you sure you didn't train with Lupa?"

"Percy, I've been here since I was seven."

"Yea, but you have a look that could rival a Wolf Stare, I mean I know Reyna's is scary but yours is downright terrifying."

Chiron cleared his throat and we all gave him our attention once more. "Thanatos would not have been invoked in the name of these followers if they had any idea of their heritage, but that was not the case. The Death Eaters referred to Tom as Lord Voldemort. He gained followers by means of blackmail, torture, and all nefarious ways to gain loyalty. In time he had an army. He had grown so powerful that he could have destroyed the magical community. However, Lord Voldemort was thwarted by his heritage.

A prophecy had come from Delphi about the Dark Lord. A woman came to Dumbledore asking for a job and she was the unwitting source of this prophecy. The words of this prophecy are these: The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, Born as the seventh month dies, And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other, For neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born as the seventh month dies.

As she spoke these words, a servant of the Dark Lord was listening in. He did not, however, hear the full prophecy. He heard only the first three lines to this prophecy. Thinking that this would be enough, he ran back to his master. The Dark Lord then set off to find people who had thrice defied him. There were two families to whom this prophecy could have been referring. The servant, however, made the choice for the Dark Lord. In requesting that he spare the life of one Lily Potter, he doomed her son to the fate of this prophecy. Much like when Lady Hera chose Percy and Jason to lead the Greeks and Romans into the Ancient Lands and sealed their fate as two of the Seven Heroes.

Lord Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter on October the 31st in the year 1981. James died in trying to keep Lord Voldemort from going upstairs to his son's bedroom. Lily died after casting herself in front of her son in a sacrifice. Their son, Harry, was the intended target, but when Lord Voldemort spoke the curse that should have killed him where he sat, the curse rebounded off of the sacrifice of Lily and struck Lord Voldemort instead. Lily gave her life for her son. This magic is much stronger than any curse. The magic of sacrifice is not something a spell could replicate; it is an action that gives whomever the victim is sacrificing their lives for a protection from the one who would have harmed them.

A simpler way of stating this would be to say that because Lily Potter gave her life for her son, Voldemort could never touch Harry while her blood ran through his veins. Now, while the curse Voldemort used to attempt to kill Harry had destroyed his body, his soul remained quite alive. You see there is magic so dark and so evil that it can keep your soul, the thing tethering you to the mortal world, alive even if your body dies. Hades and Thanatos cannot combat this magic. They can only hope that one with the power to combat it will do so."

ANNABETH

How can you defeat someone who cannot die? Everyone looked to Chiron for an answer to the question that we were all thinking but were either too lazy to speak up or just too afraid it would be the wrong question to ask. But didn't we already do just that?

"We defeat immortal monsters on a weekly basis. We've defeated Giants and Titans and the Earth Mother herself! Who else has the experience in defeating things or people who cannot die?"

Chiron looked as though he was going to add to my statement, but Nico put in his two cents as well. "This Lord Voldemort must either have made himself immortal in a way that we've just never seen, or he made it so that neither Death nor Hades could reap his soul thus keeping himself alive. But if he'd become just a soul, how did he survive that? Souls still need bodies."

Despite him being the expert of all things dead and Underworld-ly, well the only expert that we had at camp, I hated to think that Nico was right. If this Lord Voldemort was just a soul, how could we even possibly defeat him?

"Well, that is the way of magic. It has unforeseen consequences. Lord Voldemort had not only warded his soul from being reaped, he had split it into seven pieces and put those pieces of his soul into objects that were of value to him. What these objects are I do not know, but I think that Dumbledore may have an idea as to what some of them could be. The problem that arose the night that Voldemort's body was destroyed was that of Harry Potter.

When Lord Voldemort tried to kill him and instead destroyed himself, his soul split once more. Part of Voldemort lives inside of Harry, and only Lord Voldemort can destroy the piece of his soul that resides there."

Well, yea, that would be a big problem. You can't just ask a boy to sacrifice himself to die just so there could be a slight chance someone else could defeat Lord Voldemort. It wasn't right, and it certainly wasn't fair. But we knew about the fairness of the Fates firsthand.

"So the only way to really defeat this guy is to destroy all the bits of his soul that are in these objects and inside Harry, right?" Jason asked the question we were all too afraid to hear the answer to. Piper looked like she wanted to scream. Honestly, I felt the same way. How could the Fates keep asking the impossible of the children of the gods? What gave them the right to change our lives and demand our sacrifice?

Piper must have been channeling me when she spoke. "Chiron, it's not right! No one can ask that of him! He-"

"Didn't ask to be a solution to a bigger problem? Didn't ask to be orphaned at one year old? Didn't want to be the only thing that could possibly change the tide of a great war? No, it is not fair for the Fates to ask so much of him. But they asked just as much of all of you. None of you had any choice in the matter. None of you could have prevented how you came to be. Yet here you are.

Over a year ago the nine of you did the impossible. A year before I watched as so many of my heroes gave their lives just so that one who'd lost his way could be redeemed at the end. And time after time I watched as men and women who were given no say in how the Fates had woven their string died and sacrificed their own lives so that others had a chance at one. I've been training heroes and leading them to their deaths for millennia. I know how cruel destiny can be."

We all were focusing on anything but Chiron's face. Of course he understood. He was the only centaur who could possibly understand. The Fates and destiny had taken the lives of every hero he ever trained. He'd watched for millennia, as countless lives were lost to the whim of the gods and their desires. How could we have forgotten?

"Chiron, I-"

"Piper, my dear, there is no need to apologize. I understand. I did not wake you from peaceful dreams just to tell you a tale that could quite possibly be as dark as many of your own. I woke you so that you could decide if you wanted to aid someone who was wronged by the Fates and by destiny just as much as any of you had been. Despite the desire to help my friend, I cannot help but be wary. The task Dumbledore asks of you is not fair either. But understand this: none of you can change the destiny of this boy. In order for Voldemort to be defeated once and for all, he must die."

"Chiron, if his fate is set, then what in Hades could Dumbledore expect from us? We are powerful demigods, yes, but what can any of us do against magic?" Jason pulled the words right out of my mouth. What could any of us do against powerful dark magic?

"I believe I can answer that question more effectively than the old centaur." All nine of us, including the ones who weren't even here, drew our weapons and turned to see who had spoken. We were not expecting to see Hecate of all people. After realizing that we were likely not in any immediate danger we all went back to our seats. I've always been weary of Hecate, but I've always loved the kids she had at camp.

"Lady Hecate, I did not expect you. Please." Chiron gestured to the chair at the head of the table where he stood. Hecate nodded and took his place.

"I know you might be curious as to why I would come myself. I only wish to see my descendants learn from their mistakes. I existed long before the world had even heard of demigods. I gave humans the gift of magic and they have squandered it. Through this curse, I will once again be recognized for who I am: the mother of all magic."

"Lady Hecate, if I may?" Hazel by far had the best relationship with the goddess of any of us. Maybe she'd get a straight answer out of her. Hecate nodded for Hazel to continue. "After everything that we've learned tonight, all we want is a straight answer. How can we help Harry if his destiny is to die? If these humans have magic, what can a few demigods do against it? Jason, Percy, Nico and I are the best, of those gathered, who are any good at bending the Mist to our will, but what about the others?"

Hecate smiled and looked to Chiron who shook his head. "As Chiron has not yet explained this to you, I will answer your questions. To the first, you can help lead him in the right direction by becoming his friends. He has gained the loyalty of many in the magical community, but none of them save maybe two, will be understanding of the choices he will have to make. He will need to know that there are others who have been through similar situations and came out on top. And if my plan is acceptable you will unite Hogwarts in an era when that was thought impossible. To the second, if all of you, the Seven and Nico, agree to my plan then you will be given the same blessing I have given only once before."

We all stared at Hecate and I'm pretty sure Percy's jaw was on the floor. "You mean you would give us magic just to be friends with Harry and unite a school?" Hazel posed the question that was surely hanging on all our lips.

The goddess smiled, but it was very unnerving. "Do not make the mistake of thinking that I do this lightly. I have come to the conclusion that it could be the only way to accomplish the goal of keeping the magical community blind to the existence of demigods and vice versa. You would however be able to retain your memories."

We all looked like we'd been slapped. The goddess of magic was suggesting that we go make nice with a bunch of witches and wizards to gain the trust of a boy destined to die just so we could unite a school and lead Harry to the choice of giving his life. This had to be a cosmic joke, right? Everything in me screamed for the punchline.

When no further explanation came from Hecate, Chiron spoke up. "I cannot fathom what all of you are thinking. I can however let you process the information we have given you and give you a chance to decide what you will do with it."


	2. Chapter 2

Begin Chapter 2

JASON

"What do you guys think?" Hecate and Chiron had left the room and gave us time to discuss what we thought about the plan. Percy took charge, but we all know how much he hated being seen as the leader. He was just really good at it. No one answered right away, but Piper looked like she wanted to cry.

"Well," I almost wish I hadn't opened my mouth, "I think that there are a lot of ways that this could be very bad for us. I think that this plan is a little on the crazy side, but I also think that based on all the information that we have it's the best chance they have of getting us to help."

"Yea, I'm not liking the whole 'Hecate blesses us with magic' thing. But at the same time, Hecate is offering to give us magic! How cool would that be?" I laughed at Leo's obvious excitement over that one detail.

Annabeth decided to lay her opinion on the table next. "I don't know what to think. This has to be the most vague and uncertain quest ever brought before a demigod. All they want us to do is go undercover at a school and befriend some kid who happens to be the key to defeating an evil wizard just so we can encourage him to his death. It just doesn't seem right. Plus, there's the matter of her blessing us with the magic. Will the demigods blessed with natural gifts be able to use them? They want us to unite the school, but how would we do that? And then there's the problem of where we would be sorted while at Hogwarts. Based on all we've accomplished, logically we could all be in Gryffindor." Percy smiled at her and put in his two cents. "I don't think so, Wise Girl. I'm pretty sure I'd be a Hufflepuff."

Everyone looked at him with wide eyes. Percy Jackson, a Hufflepuff? "I mean c'mon guys. The quality most desired by Helga Hufflepuff was loyalty. My fatal flaw, the thing I'm most known for is my personal loyalty. I'd totally be a Hufflepuff." He smiled as though he couldn't be prouder of that fact. Percy definitely didn't let the fact that the gods saw his loyalty as a great weakness keep him from flaunting it when the situation called for it.

"I guess that makes sense." Piper looked deep in thought. Apparently she didn't feel the need to cry anymore. "Ok, so Percy would be a Hufflepuff. Where would the rest of us go? Jason, you'd most likely be a Gryffindor. I don't know where I'd go, I think I could be any of them except Ravenclaw."

"Piper, you'd definitely be in Gryffindor." Piper's face reddened at the compliment. She smiled at her friend. "Thanks, Annabeth."

Annabeth returned the smile and continued, "I think Nico and I would be in Slytherin, if we weren't sorted into Gryffindor." None of us could believe it. Annabeth, in Slytherin? She was the daughter of the Wisdom Goddess!

"Annabeth, why in Hades would you think you'd be in Slytherin?" Piper asked the very question I was about to voice. Percy looked like she'd slapped him across the face. "Well, I may be a daughter of Athena, but more often than not, a strategic battle plan relies on cunning and deception. I would have all of the qualities, save for the pure blood status, that Slytherin would have wanted in his students."

"So, I get lumped in with you because I'm a son of Hades?" Nico didn't look mad, but he didn't look too happy about it either. "No! Nico, of course not! If anyone could have been in Slytherin it would be you. You're a master of deception, and while you're definitely past the scary 'kill-them-with-an-army-of-skeletons-and-ask-questions-later' phase your natural gifts reek of darkness."

"Fine, I guess you're right. Slytherin it is." He looked like he wanted to say something else and we all waited a moment longer to see if he would speak. He looked at Leo, my best friend with a constant look of confusion plastered on his face, and gave his opinion. "Leo, I think you'd be in Ravenclaw. You're like a mad genius. I think Rowena would have chosen you out of the nine of us."

"Thanks, man. I guess I can see that. Ok, my turn to guess where people would go. Frank! You're a total shoe in for the Gryffindor house. You're the son of Mars! I don't know where Hazel would go though."

Hazel blushed a little at that. "Well, I think I'd be in Hufflepuff with Percy. I'm not particularly cunning, or very brilliant and really, all of us could be in Gryffindor so I think I'd be sorted into Hufflepuff."

Well, that covered all four houses. Maybe uniting the school wouldn't be as hard as we thought. "Well, every house has been spoken for. Maybe that's the point that Hecate and Chiron were trying to make. We're all the best of friends and we would be a uniting factor from all the houses. We could infiltrate each house and figure out who'd stand with Harry if the need ever arose. It's actually very plausible that with all of us in different houses that we could unite the school against Voldemort. The only house that could possibly be of a concern would be the Slytherin house. But surely not all of the students would want to side with an evil wizard." Annabeth, the only one of us who seems to understand everything. And she thinks she'd be in Slytherin. We continued to talk about whether or not we'd want to take the quest when Leo brought up something that most of us missed.

"Ok, so say we agree to go to England and learn magic and be sorted into different houses and become friends with this Harry guy. How long would we be there? And could I bring Calypso?" Nico went wide-eyed for a moment. For a moment I wondered why Leo asking to bring Calypso would be a big deal, but then it hit me: Nico would be leaving Will behind if we accepted the quest. He and Will had become really good friends after we defeated Gaea and then almost nine months later Nico and Will were a couple. I'd known for a while that Nico liked Will, but all the campers, outside of the Seven, were very surprised. "And if Calypso gets a pass then Will should too." Nico looked at me and gave me a small smile. I gave him a nod and a smile in return. Percy stood and called for our attention.

"Ok, so we might need Hecate and Chiron back in here to answer that. But does this mean that we want to go?" When none of us spoke, Reyna added her two cents. "If Praetor Zhang accepts this quest, I can handle New Rome without him, but not indefinitely. There are two Praetors for a reason. I know that I would never be called on for a quest this size, but if you all decide to take it I will pray to the gods daily for your safe return and success on your journey."

"Thank you, Reyna." Percy still had the role of de facto leader and asked us for our decision, and once again no one wanted to be the first to speak. "If Will could come with me I'd take the quest." Nico's answer sat on the stillness of the moment, but I couldn't help but smile proudly at my other best friend. Nico had grown up a lot in the year and a half since we'd defeated Gaea. He'd come out to the camp and started a relationship with a guy who liked him for all of who he was. He made friends with other campers besides the Seven and became an official ambassador from his father to Camp Jupiter. He was really starting to enjoy life and he was nearly unrecognizable from the scrawny and underfed boy he'd been then.

"The same with me but I'd want Calypso to go."

I looked at Piper, and had to do a double take. It had been over a year and still I couldn't get over just how beautiful she was. She had become my rock and I knew that if she decided that she didn't want to go I'd make the same choice. She looked over at me and I gave her a look that said, are we going to take the quest? She smiled, let out a long breath and nodded. She wanted to go. I spoke up without taking my eyes off her, "Piper and I will take the quest as well."

"Hazel and I accept the quest." Frank and Hazel must have been having the same silent conversation Piper and I were having. That just left Percy and Annabeth. We all looked over at them, and at the risk of being teased for the rest of my life, and I couldn't help but smile and think that they were the embodiment of what it meant to be a couple. Percy held one of Annabeth's hands with one of his and his other rested on her cheek. They looked like they were whispering, and Annabeth had a worried look on her face. Percy must have said something that eased that worry because the next thing I knew she was smiling and leaning into his hand that was on her face. Percy must have felt all our eyes on them because he looked up and his face went red immediately.

"Annabeth and I will take the quest as well."

JASON

After all agreeing to take the quest Percy went to find Chiron and Hecate to tell them the news and request a few more of our questions be answered. Hecate returned to the head of the table and Chiron took a place to her right.

"You have more questions about the quest? Please, let us hear them and Lady Hecate and I will answer to the best of our ability."

Annabeth spoke first. "Chiron, I have three questions, but they are all about the same thing. First, how old is Harry Potter now? Will we be able to pass for students who are his age? And third, how long will he need us to be in Hogwarts with him?"

"I can answer the first question, but I think Lady Hecate will be better off answering the second and third. Harry Potter is finishing his fourth year at Hogwarts and will turn fifteen on July the 31st."

He looked to Hecate and She looked back to Annabeth. "If you are to pass as students Harry Potter's age, you will have to be his age." Well, I was pretty sure she said we'd all have to be fifteen, but none of us, except Nico and Hazel, were that age.

"Lady Hecate, none of the others are fifteen. I'm the only one."

She gave Nico a small smile. "Yes, son of Hades, you and Hazel are the only two who are naturally fifteen. However, I am the goddess of magic. I will give your friends their own bodies when they were fifteen. It is a simple matter." She gave the room a once-over, "You will be permitted to keep your memories and your maturity however."

Leo looked like he was about to cry, "I just hit a growth spurt! You mean I'll have to be 5' 3'' again?"

Lady Hecate gave a small chuckle, "Do not worry, little hero, all of your friends will be in their past bodies as well. You will not look that small." Leo gave her a look that said sure, lady and crossed his arms and sat back with a frustrated look on his face. "Now as to your final question Daughter of Wisdom, you will be there for a number of years. If Harry Potter is to succeed in fulfilling his destiny he will need all of you until the end of his final year at Hogwarts."

Three years? We'll have to be in England for three years? Well, that certainly puts a new spin on 'taking time to find yourself before college'.

"My Lady," we all turned to see who'd spoken up, and we're all surprised that Nico was the one talking, "if we are to be apart from our friends here and in Camp Jupiter for three years, could we ask two things of you?" Nico was going to ask about Will and Calypso. Hopefully the goddess was in a giving mood.

"If these two things are within reason I do not see why I should deny you the request." Nico swallowed, presumably to gather the courage to speak, and continued, "All of the demigods in this room, save for Leo and myself, are going to be with their boyfriend or girlfriend for the next three years. Leo and I were the last of our friends to find the happiness that some of them have been enjoying for a few years now. Would it be too much to ask that Will Solace and Calypso be permitted to join us?" Gods of Olympus I hope she gives him what he wants. She took a moment before answering.

"This is what you would ask of me, that you not be separated from your lovers?" She looked at both Nico and Leo, who were both red as strawberries, and when they nodded their assent she gave her answer. "If this is the only thing holding you back, then I suppose I can grant you this."

She turned to Chiron, "Can you vouch for this demigod and former immortal?"

"Of course, Will Solace and Calypso are just as trustworthy as the nine demigods present." Hecate considered this and then returned her gaze to Nico and Leo.

"Very well. The son of Apollo and Calypso will be permitted to accompany you on your quest. That will make the number an even ten." I had been holding my breath waiting for Hecate's answer. When she agreed, I let out the breath and silently thanked the gods for her generosity.

"Thank you Lady Hecate." She gave Nico a nod and then turned back to the rest of us. "Are there any other things that we can clear up for you?"

"My Lady," Piper stood to address the goddess, "most of us were given natural abilities in the realms of our parents. Will these gifts be taken from us? And how will we know how to use the magic you will bless us with?"

As Piper sat back down Hecate gave her answer, "Those of you with abilities will be able to retain them. However, I must caution you. If the students at Hogwarts learn of your true identities I fear that a mass panic will spread. That being said, I believe that Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and the Family Weasley are among those whom you could be honest with about who and what you are. Furthermore, it is with this family whom you will reside before the start of the school year. You will be sent to them within the first week of July. As for how you will know how to use magic, there are two ways to accomplish this.

First, I can impart that knowledge to you upon receiving my blessing. Secondly, I would place each of you in an enchanted sleep and take years to teach you the spells and curses as I taught my first blessed millennia ago. I believe I am right in saying that most of you will prefer the first way, am I not?" She looked at Percy, Leo, Frank, Nico and I for confirmation. Apparently she thought that we were the lazy ones of the group.

When none of us spoke up she gave a slight smile. "Well, I think that for the sake of time and the validity of your identities I will simply impart the knowledge to you all. However, it will take until the end of summer for you to become accustomed to your bodies reverting to give the impression that you are but fifteen years of age. If I have answered all of your questions, I will give you the rest of today and most of tomorrow to alert your families and the two others joining your quest of what will be taking place. Tomorrow evening I will return and I shall bring Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque here to complete the transformation. They will have to remain here for training. Does this sit well with you Praetor?"

Everyone knew Reyna was the one being addressed. She would have to lead New Rome alone for the next three years. It would not be an easy task, but with all the changes that had been made over the last year and a half, it will be a lot easier than when Juno snatched me from my bunk and started the demigod relocation program. No one will be trying to usurp Reyna's authority in the Senate.

"My Lady, it is agreeable. I will be able to convince the Senate of the necessity for Praetor Zhang to participate in the quest and be able to request a temporary assistant be granted me in his absence for the next three years. It will not be an easy feat, but it will be possible."

Lady Hecate nodded her approval. "Very well. Before I take my leave, are there any other questions you have for me?" No one spoke for a moment but then Annabeth stood. "I may have a couple more. Will we be able to IM our families while we're gone?" The goddess took the nod and continued, "If it comes down to it, and we tell someone about who we really are, will they be able to keep that knowledge or will it be taken from them once we have gone?"

"That is still undecided." Annabeth looked like she wanted to press the issue but after a moment seemed to think better of it.

"When we do return, we'll all be three years older. Some of us wanted to graduate high school and get into college. Will the gods grant us forged documentation that will take our school experience from the next three years and translate it into something that will help us achieve entrance into college?"

Hecate actually laughed a full and harmonious belly laugh at that. "My dear, if you so desire to continue your education it is the least I can do to give you what you need to achieve it."

Annabeth gave a slight nod that she understood and continued. "As I said, when we return, we'll be three years older. Our bodies have not been older than we are now, but our minds will have gained three years. How will our bodies know how to compensate for the lost time, or will we be returned to these bodies and given three more years than we would have gotten out of them?"

I had been wondering the same things, but it just sounded so much more intelligent the way Annabeth asked. The goddess must not laugh much because she once again gave a full belly laugh at Annabeth's question.

"I am the goddess of magic and I have existed for eons. Never have I met a demigod quite like you Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. You will be sent back into the bodies you now possess. Consider it a gift. The ten of you who will take up this quest for me shall be given three years more on this earth than you were destined to receive." Annabeth seemed satisfied because after Hecate gave her answer, she sat and asked no more questions.

End Chapter 2

Begin Chapter 3


	3. Chapter 3

PIPER

When Chiron came into my cabin and woke me up at 4am I didn't expect it to be good news. Seeing most of the Seven and Nico in the War Room made me think that it was really bad news. I was not expecting the history of magic and a quest to come out of it. By the time Hecate left it was 7:30am and I had one killer headache. Who knew that there were such things as witches and wizards? And guess who gets to go help save them all, me and my friends, the Seven of the Second Great Prophecy, Nico di Angelo and two of our most trusted friends.

After saying goodbye to Reyna, Frank and Hazel we prepared to head back to our cabins so those of us who had to travel into the city for school get dressed and could eat breakfast in order to get to class on time.

Chiron asked if Annabeth or I wanted to go and visit our families before tomorrow evening and I had wanted to say, "Hell yes!" Unfortunately for me, dad is a Vancouver guest starring on the TV show Supernatural. They'd practically begged him to come up and be in a couple episodes. Supernatural was one of my favorite shows so I told him to go for it. If I'd updated my passport on time I'd have spent a few weeks with him while he was there. Luckily, though he and I got to talk last summer about who I am and everything that comes with it. I could Iris Message him later when he gets done shooting and is relaxing in his trailer.

Annabeth was able to secure a flight to California at lunch with a return flight for tomorrow at the same time. Percy wanted to go with her but Chiron convinced him that to drop her off and pick her up would be enough. As we all headed out of the Big House we were met by Apollo (Apollo was our new Camp Director. After having been part of the start of all the craziness of the Second Giant War (and also responsible for letting the Oracle at Delphi become overrun by Gaea's offspring) Zeus decided to grant Dionysus a pardon and put Apollo in his place. (The one thing that Zeus still allows Apollo to do is drive the sun chariot in the morning.).

He greeted us cheerfully and made his way to the Dining Pavilion. If there was one thing most of us were grateful for, it was that Apollo was much more invested in our training than Dionysus had ever been, and even had taken up teaching archery to assist those not sired buy himself. Dionysus would never have lifted a finger if he could have helped it. But not even the smiling face of the god of music could lift my thoughts out of the dark pit they'd been drawn into. Even though I'd volunteered to take this quest, I couldn't help but think it may have been a mistake. I looked around at the place I'd called home for the last year and a half. The camp was still quiet with few people wandering around. Not many of the campers had decided to go back to school. The ones who did were milling about headed to the pavilion for breakfast. I couldn't help but smile at the memory of when I decided I'd go back to school.

Percy was going to be repeating eleventh grade, much to his chagrin, and Annabeth would be repeating it with him. Annabeth, the daughter of Athena that she was, encouraged me to go back to school too. I'd be at Goode with her and Percy and since they would be repeating eleventh grade I'd be able to be in a lot more classes with them.

"Piper, you'd be with me and Percy in a lot of classes and Will made Nico send in a letter as well! It'll be great! At least think about it some more before you say no." That's my Annabeth, always the diplomat. I'd mentioned it to Jason and he had gotten a bright look in his eyes and picked me up twirling me around in the air.

"Of course you should go! You've been hinting at the possibility of going back to school for a week now. If you want to go to school, then go!" He'd been so proud of me when I brought him the letter from the Principal and they'd read it together. Jason had wanted to go, but his duties to both camps, Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, would keep him busy all throughout the year. He'd been named Pontifex Maximus and was able to go in between camps to ensure that all the gods had either a shrine or a cabin dedicated to them or their demigod children.

Even though Jason had told me that he'd probably hate having to travel all the time I knew he loved having the chance to have a life at both camps. He definitely sided more with the Greek side of things, but he'd never let his Roman family know that. I was definitely proud of him too.

But even remembering how excited my boyfriend was after he'd completed the first of many shrines and temples to the minor gods in New Rome couldn't keep a smile on my face for longer than a moment. Annabeth caught up with me and we headed towards our cabins to get ready for school.

"Worried about the quest?" Of course she knew I was worried, she was probably worried too.

"Did we make the right choice? I know that the world is at stake, again, but this kid is fifteen. I know that all of us know what it's like to be the key to a prophecy, but he has to die. I don't know if I want to let him just sacrifice himself like that. I just...he's a kid, Annabeth! He should be enjoying his magical education! He should be finding a girlfriend and laughing with his friends. He shouldn't have to-"

All of a sudden I had an armful of Annabeth. She'd given me a look and instead of admonishing me like I thought she would, she pulled me into a hug. I stopped walking and wrapped my arms around her as tightly as I could without hurting her. Over the last year and a half Annabeth and I had become nearly inseparable. She was the best girl friend that I'd ever had. As close as we'd become on the Argo II, we were so much closer now. Percy sometimes complained that when Annabeth and I were together it was like the two of us were dating instead of the two of them. He didn't really mean it but Annabeth always made sure to give him a friendly punch to let him know he'd been heard. I only ever needed a look or a her hand on my arm to know that she was with me and that she shared my fear or my thoughts. I needed this hug.

As I pulled away I kept walking and answered her unspoken question. "I needed that, thanks." She smiled,

"Hey, what are best friends for? I'll meet you at the pavilion in ten minutes so we can grab breakfast to go. We'll get Argus to drive us." I nodded and she ran past the Aphrodite and Artemis cabins on her way to Athena's. I took a deep breath and made my way inside to get ready for school. I didn't expect that many of my siblings to be awake this early, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Lacy awake and making her bed. She looked up as I came in and gave me a curious look.

"Where did you come from? I just looked and saw you in your bed. I thought I was going to have to wake you so you weren't late for school." I gave her a smile and a chuckle.

"The Mist works on demigods sometimes too. Chiron has been showing me how to bend it to my will." It wasn't the whole truth, but it was good enough for her. She looked impressed and smiling, went back to fluffing her pillows and making sure her sheets were neat.

Ten minutes later I headed out the door to meet Annabeth. I didn't look my best, but then I had never really cared to do that anyway. She had tried to brush her hair but apparently it hadn't wanted to cooperate. She hid the bulk of the mess in a beanie and her curls fell around her face. Despite not being totally put together, she looked great. We shared a smile and headed off to get some breakfast. We didn't talk on the way, but it wasn't an awkward silence.

"Piper! Annabeth! Wait up!" We turned to see Nico and Will running to catch up with us though not very fast as they were holding hands. Even though they'd been together for a while, it was still weird to see them publicly displaying any indication that they were a couple. Nico was old fashioned and easily embarrassed. Being from the 1940s that was totally understandable. Back then people who were gay were carted off to places where the homosexual disease could be cured or prayed out of them. I was happy to see that he finally trusted his fellow campers enough to know that no one here would look at him differently because of his relationship.

After they caught up with us, we continued to head to breakfast. "So, Nico, did you get a chance to talk to Will?" He knew immediately what I meant, but from his wince he hadn't. I immediately felt bad for spilling the beans. He sent a glare my way and sighed,

"No, but I was going to. I just didn't have time this morning." Will looked supremely confused and I had to chuckle a little. But Annabeth saved me from having to answer.

"Nico, if you're worried about him going with you, you shouldn't be. I wouldn't that bet." Nico sent a very small yet very grateful smile her way.

"Well, I have no idea what you three are talking about, but I'm sure that I'll be convinced to do whatever it is after Death Breath here gets back from school." Nico sighed and rolled his eyes at the nickname, but there was a smile on his face. He may act like he hated it, but it was obvious that having a nickname meant a lot to Nico. Annabeth and I had to laugh. They were a great couple.

STILL PIPER

Being a demigod was hard. Dealing with monsters and wars and whether or not your godly parent wanted to acknowledge your existence just came with the territory. Being a demigod trying to fit into regular society was worse than anything the gods or the monsters could throw at you. Every demigod always has two learning disorders: ADHD and Dyslexia (well every demigod except Frank Zhang, the lucky µπάσταρδος). Trying to pay attention to the pre-calculus equations the teacher was trying to drill into our heads with a life-changing quest hanging over your head is nearly impossible.

When the bell rang signifying that my lunch period was starting, I would have said it was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard (ok, yes, I'm exaggerating a lot but at this point in time I wasn't exactly sane). Annabeth had decided to leave fifteen minutes before class had ended in order to make it to the airport in time to catch her flight home and Percy had taken her. As soon as I got my salad and my sad school tofu taco (the school's lunch ladies had nothing on Leo's tool belt) I started looking for Nico and Thea, the one friend I'd made this year at school. I found Nico easily enough. He was the only student who wore all black no matter what day of the week it was. When he got close I shouted his name and he acknowledged me with a wave. I smiled back noticing that his mouth was full. I was perfectly happy without him spewing his food in my face trying to say hello. When I spotted Thea I stood and waved her over. As she wound her way through the lunchroom I started on my tacos.

Thea had been one of the first girls other than Annabeth and Hazel that I'd ever gotten along with. I counted my blessings that Nico got along well with her. I love him like a brother, but when he pulls out the death humor it can get really depressing really fast. "Hey, Nico! Hey, Piper! Annabeth and Percy skipping today?"

I laughed, "You are talking about our Annabeth, right? Because if Percy ever even thought about skipping you know she'd pound him into next week." Thea laughed and smirked,

"Well, before Annabeth got here Percy missed a lot of school. He was gone for almost the whole school year last year. I honestly don't know how he passed eleventh grade." I didn't really know what to say to that. I hadn't known Percy then and when I first came to Goode Annabeth and I thought that it might be a little strange if I knew them all of a sudden. So to Thea, Annabeth and I had only "known" each other for six months.

"He didn't pass the eleventh grade. He's having to repeat it. And despite what you may think, Percy and Annabeth were both here this morning. She said something about going to California to see her parents and I guess Percy took her to the airport." Nico to the rescue.

All I had to do was put the icing on the cake. "I didn't see her, but I did see Percy and he asked me to get him something and give it to him in fifth period. " I hoped that my lie was close enough to the truth that I didn't give myself away. I don't have any classes with Annabeth until after lunch, but I have two with Percy before. Nico had one with both of them first thing in the morning.

"Well, I hope he's not late to Blofis. It just looks bad when you can't make it on time to your own stepdad's class.

Percy didn't make it back to school in time for the start of English. Mr. Blofis gave him a pink slip with a note to his mother on it but I suspected that it was just Paul letting Sally know that Percy indeed made it back to school safe from the airport. I'd only met Paul and Sally outside of school and school related functions a few times, but I had been able to see what perfect parents they were on the spot. Paul was even a mortal who'd been thrown into the world of the Greek gods and their children and he was always the first to get excited when a monster came after us. How much more supportive could a step-dad be?

And Sally, she was the embodiment of support. No matter how many times Percy had been asked not to return to a school (and I think the number is twelve) she would tell him that it was ok and that he'd do better next time. Knowing exactly who he was, a demigod, made her acceptance of his bad grades and random accidents more understandable, but most parents would not have been as genuinely compassionate to their children who'd been kicked out of twelve schools. Even though I was supposed to be listening to Mr. Blofis talk about our next big project, reading the Twelfth Night and recreating a scene using various mediums, I was smiling to myself as I recalled the love and familial acceptance that Paul and Sally had pouring off of them.

Percy offered to drive us back to camp after school. He did need to make a stop at his mom's apartment to give her the pink slip, but Nico and I loved visiting Percy's mom so neither of us was worried about that at all. I could probably text my dad from Sally's phone (seeing as having one of my own would have brought every monster in a ten mile radius straight to us) and ask him when I could IM him later.

As I had expected Paul's note to Sally wasn't the usual pink slip note. I didn't see it, but when Percy handed it to her she laughed and rolled her eyes. Gods of Olympus, if only we all could have parents like Sally Jackson. "Sally, would it be ok if you texted my dad for me? I need to know if I can IM him later. I don't want to freak out anyone he's working with up in Canada." She smiled and asked what the number was. After getting confirmation that I could IM my dad in an hour, Percy, Nico and I said goodbye to Sally and headed back to camp


	4. Chapter 4

NICO

After a day of school, which is always harder when you've got other things on your mind, I was ready to get this conversation with Will over with. I hoped that I knew him well enough by now to be ready for his response to the quest, but I was more nervous than I had been when we held hands walking around camp the first time. We were the first gay couple that had been at camp in the a really long time (the ancient demigods weren't as shy about who they loved), and it wasn't easy to come out. I'd never have done it if I'd lived my life out when I was supposed to.

_(I was born in Italy in the early 1920s. I don't remember much from before 1930. My father, Hades, had remained close to my mother even after I was born. Part of this was because my uncle, Zeus, wanted me dead. The Big Three, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, made a pact not to sire any more demigod children. Bianca, my first sister, was born before this pact was made. I however was evidence of the weakness of the gods. Zeus had found out and made plans to kill Bianca, our mother, and me. He was only successful in killing one of us. Bianca and I survived and were sent to America. There we were taken to a hotel in Las Vegas. It's called the Lotus Hotel and Casino, if I can remember correctly. We were there for something like sixty years. But to us, inside the hotel, it had seemed like only a month. To quote the cliché, we weren't in Kansas anymore.)._

It wasn't something that normal people did back then, men were supposed to love women. For a long time I didn't recognize those feelings for what they were. I just thought that all people must feel that way. Then I met Percy Jackson and I realized what I was. At first, I hated myself and thought that if I just stayed away from him it would go away. They didn't.

After everything I'd been through with Tartarus, Cupid, and finally Gaea, I thought I could keep my sexual orientation to myself and live out the rest of my life alone and be perfectly content. Of course Will freaking-son-of-Apollo Solace had to force his way into my life. He was the first demigod (not counting Jason and Percy) not to run in fear when I reacted poorly to something he said, he was the first demigod to give me a reason to pull myself out of the shadows. He was the one who initiated our friendship, the one who finally got me to open up about everything that happened in and before Tartarus. He was the first person, besides Bianca, that I had ever completely trusted. How could I not fall for him?

Despite having been born nearly sixty years before him, Will is technically older than me. It's only two years, but I sometimes wondered if he really is the older one. He acts like a 6 year old when it comes to anything comic book related. I never liked superheroes as a kid, but then I never really got to have a childhood. I was ten when I entered the Lotus hotel and I was ten when I left, but over half a century had passed.

I was shaken out of my thoughts when Percy alerted me to our arrival back at camp. I had heard Piper say something, get out and shut the car door, but it hadn't really registered. He gave me a look like, are you ok? I smiled, something I never would have done a year and a half ago, "Yea, I'm just not looking forward to telling Will about the quest. I want him to come with me but is that fair of me to even ask?" Percy gave me a nod of understanding and a sad smile. I thought he was going to reassure me like Annabeth and Piper had, but then he got a strange look on his face. "Wait here for a sec, ok?" Despite the confused look I gave him, I agreed. He left me in the car while he ran up to the Big House with Piper. What could he be doing? I started to think he was going to get Will but when he came back alone I was even more confused. When he got back behind the wheel he just flashed me his signature smile and drove off back towards the city. "Percy, where in the world are we going?" He smiled again and shook his head. Apparently I was being kidnapped. When we got to a familiar part of town, I asked him again where our destination was and again he just smiled and shook his head.

"Percy, this is starting to freak me out in a it's-going-to-be-a-cheesy-pep-talk kind of way." Then I noticed the street we were on. "Are we going back to your mom's apartment?" I loved Sally Jackson. She had basically adopted me and when I wasn't staying at camp I had a standing invitation to stay with her and her husband Paul.

"Nico! How'd you know?" He had a very disappointed look on his face and I knew I'd guess it.

"You drove down streets I recognized. This is the way back to your mom's apartment." Well, finally, I- If we were going back to Sally's then he must have IMed her and now she was going to give me the cliché Will-would-never-say-no pep talk. Great.

"She's going to hit me for even thinking Will would say no. And then she's going to hit me for not making you tell her about it when we were here earlier."

He laughed and lightly socked my shoulder. "Dude, if she is going to hit anyone it's going to be me. And she's going to want you to talk to her anyway. You're like her other son!" I had to smile. Sally checked on me every week and when I did stay over, she always made me feel like I had a mom again. I'm sure Annabeth thought of her as a mom too. Sally was just everyone's mom. She didn't know how not to be.

STILL NICO

Percy had been right. Sally and slapped the back of his head when he told her about the quest. "You couldn't have told me this earlier?" He shrugged and gave her an embarrassed smile.

"I was going to come back to talk to you anyway so I figured I would just drop Nico and Piper off and then come back. But Nico needed to come back just as much as I did." She sighed and seemed satisfied with that answer.

Then she turned her eyes on me. "Ok, so you are going on this quest too?" I nodded. "Well, tell me everything I need to know." This is why we love Sally Jackson. Paul walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table with the rest of us.

"So, another long quest?" This is why we love Paul Blofis. He got so excited about all the demigod stuff and honestly, I think he'd go looking for a monster if it meant he'd get to see us fight one. Sally rolled her eyes and smiled at her husband.

"Paul, honey, I swear, you get more excited about the kids hunting monsters than anything that a normal middle aged English teacher should." He tried to act like he felt bad but the smile on his face gave him away. Sally chuckled and then turned back to me and Percy expecting us to start talking. I shared a look with my cousin and he smiled and gave me a look that said, go on, you tell them. Awesome.

"Well, Chiron woke us up this morning along with Jason, Piper, Annabeth, and Leo. He IMed Reyna, Frank and Hazel in New Rome too. He told us about these mortals who'd been blessed by Hecate, the goddess of magic, and explained that the descendants of these mortals were in danger of being exterminated by one of their own. To get straight to the point, Hecate wants us, the Seven plus me, to go and help in any way we can. The catch is that this isn't a normal quest. There's not really a prophecy and we have to go undercover without letting anyone know exactly who we are. The biggest problem is that it's going to be three years before we can even come home." I paused because I figured Sally would have a cow at the thought of not seeing Percy for three whole years. Apparently having notice before your kid disappears does make a difference. Her eyes went wide but otherwise she remained quiet. She gave me an encouraging smile so I continued.

"The other weird thing about this is we aren't the ones who will actually be doing any saving. There is a prophecy, but it was spoken nearly twenty years ago and it was about someone descendant of the blessed of Hecate. He has to be the one to fulfill the prophecy." I specifically left out the part where the guy had to die. I figured Percy would have too. "That's basically the gist of it." Sally looked to Paul and they had a silent conversation. After they were done Paul addressed us.

"So, where exactly will all of you be?" Percy decided that he would answer. "We'll be in England for a month each year and a few weeks at Christmas. But for the most part we'll be at a school for magic in Scotland." Sally nodded and put the cup of coffee I hadn't noticed she'd had on the table.

"Annabeth asked Lady Hecate if we could IM you while we were gone and she didn't see a problem with it. But you should probably know that she's going to give us all our bodies from when we were fifteen. So we'll all look like we did then."

"Wait, this goddess is going to make all of you revert to fifteen? What about Nico and Hazel?"

"We're the only ones who are actually fifteen. We won't be made to look any younger. Although Hecate did say we'd be returned to the age we are now once we completed the quest, so I'll get to be fifteen again in three years." Too much too soon.

"Why in Hades would you have to be fifteen?" Percy and I shared a look, a look Sally did not miss.

"Styx." Percy was absolutely right. We were so totally screwed.

"Percy, please tell me what else is going on." For the love of Zeus. No one could deny Sally when she was like that.

"Mom, this quest is to help a fifteen year old wizard. He's the kid the prophecy is about. There's an evil wizard called Lord Moldy-shorts,-"

''Voldemort, Percy, its Voldemort."

"Oh," he blushed, "right, Voldemort. So this guy is really bad news. Not as bad as the whole earth being out to get you, but pretty bad. The kid, Harry, he's got to defeat him. Someone tried to figure out the prophecy and because of that his whole family was killed. His godfather ended up in jail and he was sent to live with his mom's sister who couldn't be bothered to care about him. He needs people who have been through the ringer to give him some support."

All of a sudden I was very confused, "Wait, Hecate didn't tell us that. How do you know all that?" Percy ran his hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck and sent me an apologetic look.

"Well, after everyone left Hecate and Chiron cornered me and gave me a few more details. Apparently they think Harry and I are really similar and I should know a little more than everyone else. Don't let on that you know though. They said he's really private about his life with everyone except the Weasley people we'll be living with while we aren't at the school." I nodded. I understood not trusting anyone. I'd kept my own conscience for the last several years. Until Jason found out about my crush on Percy when Cupid forced it out of me, I'd never told anyone about what happened in my head. Then Will Solace came along and gave me a shove out of the closet. If anyone could understand privacy, it'd be me.

"I won't say anything. I'm good at secrets." Sally and Paul looked like they wanted to find this boy and wrap him in a hug and give him some blue chocolate chip cookies. If anything could make a kid destined for death feel better, it would be one of Sally's hugs and one of her cookies. Paul suddenly got a very determined look on his face glanced at Sally, and then addressed the table,

"Well, that settles it. Sally, how do you feel about moving to Scotland for the next three years?" I don't think I've seen Percy's jaw drop so low. I'm sure mine was on the floor, but gods he was so surprised.

"Well, Paul, I think that we ought to find a place to live there first."

"What… you…I…what?" Percy looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

"If you're going to be leaving for three years then Paul and I will come with you. I know that all of you will be fine over there and if these Weasley people are trustworthy then fine, but I want to be as close to you as possible. I consider all of your friends to be family and, Olympus forbid one of you needs a mom while you're gone; I want to be there. I couldn't have done much while you were in Greece, but you said that this was not a normal quest. This time Paul and I will be there. My book sold out and it's brought in a lot of money. They're already asking for another. I'll have the peaceful and scenic Scotland to inspire me. I'm sure we can find a job for Paul if he wants one. And besides, we never really got a honeymoon. This will be perfect."

Sally was someone who you didn't argue with when she got it in her head that she was going to do something. I mean, according to Percy, that's exactly how the whole blue food thing started. Her ex-husband, Smelly Gabe, had once told her that there was no such thing as blue food. Ever since then she'd gone out of her way to make, buy and create blue food. Despite the fact that all of us could take care of ourselves, we'd only saved the world twice, I was really glad that Sally and Paul would be there. It would be nice to know that if I ever just needed a home cooked meal of the bluest food, I'd be able to go wherever Sally and Paul were staying.

"You should talk to Chiron and ask him if there's a place near the school you could stay. That way, if we need you, you're right there. I mean, all of us can take care of ourselves, but if we did need you, we wouldn't have to go far."

Sally smiled at her son, obviously pleased that he'd taken so well to the idea. Then she turned to me, "Ok, Nico. What's up with you and Will?" I took a deep breath and let it out before I answered.

"There isn't a problem with us. It's more about this quest. I just don't know if it's fair of me to ask him to give up three years of his life here at camp just to follow me on some quest that could be dangerous enough to get us all killed. I don't think I could live with myself if he didn't come back. It would be all my fault for asking him to go in the first place." I had stopped looking her in the eye and averted my gaze to the table. The table didn't have a gaze that was sad, encouraging and understanding at the same time.

"Nico, sweetheart, I think you know exactly what I'm going to say but I guess I'll have to say it anyway. Even if it was dangerous, how do you think Will would feel if you didn't come back? How could he live with himself if he didn't follow you, if the last time he saw you in person was when you were saying goodbye?" She was only half right. I'd known she would say something about how he would feel. What I hadn't expected was her insight into exactly how it would feel to be left behind. She'd experienced that with Percy during Hera's demigod exchange program. Thinking about Will having to hear from Percy and the others that I hadn't made it back and picturing him crying over me was enough of a kick in the όρχεις. I wasn't feeling any better about what I was asking Will to do, but I was determined to give him the option.

"Thanks, Sally, I'm glad Percy Nico-napped me and brought me here." Percy looked aghast that I had used his humor without consulting him, but Sally was giving me a I'm-proud-of-you smile. "But I need to get back to camp and talk to Will. Hopefully he'll react the way everyone thinks he will."

HAZEL

Despite the fact that later today I'd be saying goodbye to the first place I'd felt at home since I died (long story), I was feeling good about the decision to take the quest Hecate had laid at our feet. Even though I wouldn't be getting a trip to the past like everyone else (well everyone but Nico), I was happy to be getting to travel again. As horrible as the trip to Greece had been I had loved getting to see the places I'd read about. During my first life, I'd read about the British Isles in History and read a little Shakespeare when I could borrow a book from the library. I'd have given anything to have gone to another country for a visit. But my excitement could wait. I needed to get back to my bunk with the Fifth Cohort and get enough rest to be alert enough to command my troops.

After Dakota's death in the battle against Gaea, the legion (Reyna and Frank had something to do with it) had named me Centurion of the Fifth Cohort. It was a difficult job, but I was glad to be respected for being a Heroine of Olympus instead of being feared for being a Daughter of Pluto. The job should have gone to Frank, but he politely declined in favor of giving the position to me. Not a very Roman thing to do, especially for a son of Mars, but that was my Frank. Always making sure to remain true to his kind nature rather than the war hungry psycho some of his siblings thought he ought to be. Being Praetor, Frank's sleeping quarters were now in the Principia with Reyna instead of in the Barracks with the Cohorts. I'd helped him move his few belongings into his new room and was extremely jealous of his new bed. But thinking about that bed wouldn't help me get to sleep. It was going to be a long day. I needed as much rest as I could get.

"Hazel!" I woke with a start and pulled my small dagger out from under my pillow and aimed it at the presence that had woken me. Hannah, one of the newest recruits of the Fifth Cohort, jumped back and held her hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Hey, I didn't mean to scare you, but you weren't waking up. We got worried." Hazel wiped the last of the sleep from her eyes and saw that most of her cabin mates were surrounding her bunk. The scared looks on her faces told her that the dream she'd had probably made her cry out.

"I'm ok, guys. It was just a dream." Hannah shared a look with one of the other girls and looked back at me.

"You were thrashing and you screamed once. We were going to send someone to get Praetor Zhang, but you finally woke up." That's all I needed. Frank would have been worried sick if they'd gone to get him.

"I'm fine. It was just a very vivid dream."

I'd never had dreams that woke me screaming or made other people worried for me. I had always thought that Roman demigods had less vivid dreams because we were Roman, but after the Second Giant War, I'd come back to New Rome and had my fair share of weird dreams. The only one I'd told was Frank but I might have to explain to my whole Cohort if I started screaming in the middle of the night.

After assuring my comrades that I was fine and issuing an order to meet after breakfast on the training field, I went to find Frank. Knowing him, he was probably curled up in his bed having taken the shape of a bulldog (Frank's ancestors had passed along the gift of being able to morph their bodies into any animal. When Frank slept he often subconsciously became a bulldog.).

Hopefully I wouldn't have to explain too much. I just wanted a hug before dealing with having to tell my cohort I'd be gone for the next three years. I had only been the Fifth's Centurion for a year and a half, but I had come to love being back here in New Rome and leading my Cohort in training and War Games.

The thought of leaving my troops in the hands of someone else for three years was nerve-wracking at best, and terrifying at worst. Brendon Raines was the only one I thought would be able to really handle the responsibility I'd be leaving behind. He'd been my first recruit after becoming the Fifth's Centurion and He'd become a good friend and a trusted ally during battle. He'd practically followed me around for the first month he'd been here and after that I kept him at my side during the times when I had to make decisions for our Cohort. He could fulfill the task, I was sure of it. He got his first stripe for saving the life of a fellow legionnaire and his second upon the completion of his first year of service (in Camp Jupiter you got a tattoo burned into your arm upon achieving rank in the legion. Your parent's symbol, plus a stripe for every year of service and the SPQR signifying your acceptance into the legion. At Camp Half-Blood you got a leather necklace and a bead for each summer you survived at camp. This was only one of the ways in which the two camps were different). Despite him being young and only six months into his second year of service, he was probably the best candidate.

"Centurion Levesque!" I turned to whoever had spoken my name and was pleasantly surprised to see Brendon running towards me. "

Hey Brendon, what do you need this time?" He smiled,

"Why do you always assume I need something? Can't a legionnaire greet his Centurion without pretense?"

I laughed, "If this legionnaire was anyone else but you, I could say yes. But we both know that you only use my title if you're trying to get out of something."

He scoffed feigning offence, "Do you really have so low an opinion of me?" I sent him a smirk and kept walking and he followed.

"I'm going to make sure our faithful Praetor Zhang is awake and then I will meet you and the rest of the Cohort for our morning meal." It was my polite way of saying, 'Please leave I don't want to talk to anyone right now.' He nodded his understanding and took his leave. I had made it to Frank's bedroom but as I raised my hand to knock on the door it swung open revealing a fully dressed and wide-awake Frank Zhang.

"Hazel! I wasn't expecting to see you up this early. I didn't even expect myself to be up this early. We didn't get to bed until after 4am."

I smiled, "Yea, I had a bad dream and needed to see a friendly face before talking with my Cohort about the quest so they aren't sidelined at the senate meeting today." He nodded and gestured for me to come into the room with him. As soon as he closed the door I ran into his arms and held him as tightly as I could. He seemed shocked, but he responded in kind.

"Are you sure it was just a bad dream? Do you need to talk about it?"

"How in Hades do you always know when something is wrong?"

He chuckled into my hair, "Hazel, it's my job to know when something is wrong with you." He released me enough to look in my eyes. "Are you ok, Hazel?"

I smiled and stood up on the tips of my toes and gave him a small kiss on his cheek, "I am now." He searched my eyes for another moment but seemed satisfied with my answer and smiled back.

"Well, we better not stay in here alone too much longer. We don't need any more rumors about the Praetor and the Centurion of the Fifth Cohort." We both laughed and I was thrown into the memories of last summer.

It had been a year for me being the Fifth's Centurion, and Frank and I were in New Rome celebrating. Despite there being a rule against Praetors dating the Centurions everyone had decided to overlook it in our case. We had been a big part of the team that had saved the world after all. But last summer rumors were spreading about Frank and some girl in the Legion. Reyna, Frank and I had all assumed the rumors were about me, but surprisingly they weren't. Supposedly Frank had been sneaking around in the middle of the night and meeting another legionnaire from the First in the Garden of Bacchus. This went on for weeks before I had finally gotten tired of the rumors that Frank would ever cheat on me. I demanded that whomever had started these rumors come forward and name the legionnaire that was supposedly being seduced by my Praetor.

When no one came forward I had been ready to go through each of my Cohort and threaten the answer out of one of them. It had been that thought that had given me a clue as to who it was. Apparently I had been using the Mist to create the scenario in the minds of the Legion. I had seen Frank speaking with a member of the First Cohort who was known to have plans to break him up with me and take him for herself. Normally I would never have gotten jealous. But he'd laughed at a stupid joke she'd made and accidentally turned himself into a bleating goat. I had been the only person to elicit that kind of response from him ever since he'd discovered how to use his family gift. And for the first time, I became worried that maybe she could take Frank from me.

For the next week I'd had dreams about him and that girl from the First and all week it had been the two of them in the Garden of Bacchus at night. I didn't know that it was me bending the Mist to make everyone think they saw my deepest fear. It had become a joke throughout the camp and looking back, I could finally laugh about it. We headed to breakfast hand in hand and ignored the looks from practically everyone. I understood why they felt that we were blatantly showing off our rule breaking, but at that moment I couldn't begin to care.


	5. Chapter 5

STILL HAZEL

If I thought telling my troops about the quest was hard, it's nothing compared to what Reyna and Frank were going through. After Reyna had made the announcement, Frank had described the quest to the Senators and the rest of the Legion. At first they listened and tried to understand why the goddess of magic, Hecate, had decided to appear at the Greek camp rather than at our camp. Only two of the demigods requested for this quest resided here at Camp Jupiter. It just made more sense to go to the Camp where the majority of the demigods were. Though once the news of the length of the quest had been shared, I thought we were going to have an old fashioned riot on our hands.

"Romans!" Reyna had finally succeeded in getting everyone's attention. "I understand that sending our Praetor and the Centurion leader of the Fifth Cohort on a quest of this length and nature is not generally the Roman way! I also understand that once they accepted the quest from the Lady Hecate that they could not refuse her! Now, I have carried the burden of Praetor long enough that I am able to shoulder the responsibilities that should be shared by two. I have done it before! However, I have chosen a centurion from among the ranks of the Third Cohort who, if you accept him, can be a temporary replacement for the hole that will be left in Praetor Zhang's absence. And if I am to understand correctly, Centurion Levesque has also chosen a legionnaire from within her ranks in the Fifth to do the same for her role."

She looked at me and I gave her a nod, "I have Praetor!"

"Centurion Levesque, who have you deemed worthy and capable to take your place while you are on this quest?"

"I have chosen Legionnaire Raines to replace me as Centurion of the Fifth Cohort. If it pleases the senate, I would bring him before you." The senators stood as one and called for me to bring him forward. I broke rank and turned to my Cohort. Some of the legionnaires I had known since I first arrived had somber faces, and a few had tears in their eyes. Brendon, however, had a look of subdued shock etched onto his face. I hadn't told them who I was choosing to be my replacement because I wanted to present him to the whole Legion at the same time. The older legionnaires in my Cohort gave me their slight nods of approval and I knew I had made the right decision.

"Legionnaire Raines, forward!" Brendon broke rank and came to stand at my side. Then I gave him a smile and he returned it with a small smile of his own.

"Centurion Levesque, who do you present to this Senate to replace you?" "I present, Legionnaire of the Fifth Cohort, member of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, Brendon Raines as a worthy and capable replacement!" The Senators looked from me to Brendon and back and then spoke amongst themselves.

After a few minutes they turned back to the Legion and gave their verdict: "The Senate of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata accepts the Centurion of the Fifth Cohort's replacement. Centurion Raines, come forward!" Brendon looked at me and I gave a smile and nodded my encouragement. He let out a shaky breath and went the five feet to the small stage. After climbing the five steps and making his way to stand before the Senate, Reyna and Frank stepped forward and took their positions on either side of him.

"Kneel!" Brendon knelt and both Praetors placed a hand on either of his shoulders.

"The Senate of the Twelfth Legion recognizes you as Centurion Raines, Leader of the Fifth Cohort!" Brendon stood and turned with the Praetor's to face the Legion. "I, Praetor Ramirez-Arellano,"

"And I, Praetor Zhang,"

"Accept this Legionnaire,"

"In the place of Leader of the Fifth Cohort"

"To be a temporary replacement for the Centurion Levesque"

"While she completes the quest that the goddess Hecate has issued."

Upon finishing their joint acceptance of him as my replacement, a third stripe was burnt onto Brendon's arm as a sign that he would be respected as the Fifth Cohort's Centurion, but also as one who had completed three years of service to the Legion.

As one, the Praetors shouted, "Ave, Centurion Raines!"

And as one the Legion repeated, "Ave, Centurion Raines!"

Once the crowd had quieted down and Brendon was dismissed, Reyna once again addressed the Legion and the Senate.

"If it would please the Senate, I would like to present a candidate to temporarily replace Praetor Zhang while he completes the quest Hecate has lain before him." The Senate leaders conferred with one another until their decision was reached.

"Praetor, who would you present to this Senate as worthy to assist you in leading the Twelfth Legion while Praetor Zhang is completing this quest?"

"I would present member of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, Leader of the Third Cohort, Centurion Prescott. He has not only been the leader of his Cohort longer than any Centurion present, but he has proven himself a loyal Roman and a leader amongst the legionnaires. In appointing him Praetor Temporalis I am certain that he would be an asset to New Rome."

The Senate once again turned away from the Legion and decided whether or not to accept Eric as Praetor Temporalis. I had served with Eric during the War games, and he was as loyal and worthy as Reyna had described. He was a son of Mercury, but he would rather die than betray New Rome (Sons and Daughters of Mercury were known troublemakers as their father was the god of tricksters and thieves.). Once the Senate reached their decision they turned back to the Legion and addressed Reyna.

"Praetor, bring forth the Centurion."

"Centurion Prescott, forward!" Eric broke rank and followed the same path that Brendon took as he approached the stage. He reached the top and saluted the Praetors. The Senate then addressed Frank.

"Praetor Zhang, do you approve of your comrade's choice to serve the Legion at her side whilst you are on this quest?"

"I approve of the choice Praetor Ramirez-Arellano has made. She is a loyal Roman and would not choose someone to serve with her if it would cause any harm to New Rome."

"We, the Senate of the Legion approve this Centurion to be named Praetor Temporalis until such a time when Praetor Zhang returns. Centurion, kneel!" Eric knelt where Brendon had been kneeling mere minutes before and just as before, Reyna and Frank stood on either side of him and placed one hand each on either of Eric's shoulders.

"The Senate of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata recognizes you, Centurion Prescott, as Praetor Temporalis, leader of the Twelfth Legion!"

He stood and the trio turned to face the Legion.

"I, Praetor Ramirez-Arellano,"

"And I, Praetor Zhang,"

"Accept this Centurion,"

"In the place of Praetor Temporalis"

"To be a temporary replacement for Praetor Zhang" "While I complete the quest that the goddess Hecate has issued."

As the Praetors finished their joint acceptance of him as the temporary Praetor, a seventh stripe was burnt onto Eric's arm as a sign that he would be respected as Praetor Temporalis, but also as one who had completed seven years of service to the Legion.

As one, the Praetors shouted, "Ave, Centurion Prescott!"

And as one the Legion repeated, "Ave, Centurion Prescott!"

FRANK

After all of the stress and excitement of winning over the Senate and promoting two of the Legion's finest Centurions to new ranks, I was ready to take a nap. But unfortunately for me, I was still Praetor until after lunch when I would leave with Hazel for the airport and join the rest of the demigods who would be taking the quest Hecate had given. She had offered to retrieve us from New Rome, but Hazel and I had convinced the goddess that we would be better off traveling like mortals. After waving to Hazel as she led her Cohort out of the Senate House, I turned back to Eric and offered my hand.

"Congrats on the promotion, Eric. I'm sure you'll be great. One word of caution though, just because Reyna appointed you doesn't mean she'll bend to anything you suggest. You have to be passionate about anything you bring to the table and be able to defend it to the last breath. She's tough as nails and respects people who will stand by their convictions." He smiled and dropped my hand.

"Thanks, Frank. I'm not even sure why she suggested I be chosen to replace you. There are several centurions who have been here almost the full ten years who would have been much better suited to the job."

"Eric, I think that's one of the reasons she picked you. You earned another stripe today. You've only got three more years before your service is up. I'll have returned and you can decide if you want to add five more years to your service, or choose to leave the Legion and take a stab at life in New Rome or try your hand at being Greek. You're also young. You'll turn seventeen next year. Most of the kids Lupa sends are a little older when they get to camp. You're one of the youngest to make it here in years. In three years you'll be twenty. That's a great age to have accomplished so much. Centurion before your first year is up, Praetor at sixteen, what else will you accomplish in the next three years?" He looked floored.

"You have really changed Frank. A year and a half ago I wouldn't have thought I'd ever have this kind of conversation with you. It will be an honor to serve in your place. But hurry back, I don't want to have this much power for too long." At first I wanted to be mad, but I realized it was a compliment as he continued speaking.

"I know Reyna would not have chosen you if you weren't ready. You'll be a great Praetor." We shared a smile and another handshake before Reyna came back over to us.

"I have no more desire to speak so formally. Let us adjourn to the Principia and talk there. Eric and I nodded and followed Reyna out of the Senate house and headed back to her office. It was going to be a long day.

STILL FRANK

"Hazel, are we crazy for doing this? I mean, we just gave up half of who we are. I love our Greek friends and I love travelling back and forth between camps on occasion, but we won't be coming back for three more years."

Hazel and I were waiting for the plane to take off and fly us to Reagan International from LAX. We could have left from a different airport but Hazel had wanted to ride Arion once more before leaving and possibly not getting to ride for three years. As she pondered my question she fiddled with her seat belt while simultaneously twirling a lock of her hair around one of her fingers.

"Frank, I love New Rome and I love our way of life there, but sometimes I wish I could have stayed with Nico at Camp Half-Blood." I was surprised and even a little hurt by her words.

"So, you're more than a little excited to be going. And what about me?" Hazel's eyes shot up and she was obviously holding back tears. As she spoke they began to fall freely from her eyes.

"Frank, no matter what, I would have gone with you. I know that it might seem like I'm belittling what you and I have, but know this: If it ever came down to being separated from you and falling into a trap or Hades forbid, even falling into Tartarus, I would choose being with you." She laughed a little, "It's not near as romantic knowing Percy did the same for Annabeth, but If it had been you falling, I would have gone with you." Well, that's about as good as an, 'I love you,' I have to give her that.

"Hazel, I'm sorry. It's just, even though I'm Praetor and I've grown out of my chubby Chinese-Canadian days, I'm getting ready to be thrust back into them and I just can't help but feel self conscious, again." Hazel chuckled and hit me playfully on the arm.

"Frank, you don't have anything to be worried about. No matter how you look, you will always be my Frank. Nothing about you appearance will change that." I let out a long breath and looked at her again.

"Hazel, I'm so lucky to have you." She smiled up at me and I wiped the tear streaks from her face. Suddenly, we heard a voice over the speakers, "This is the Captain, I'm sorry for the delay, but we are finally ready to take off. There's some turbulence right around this area so it'll be bumpy for the first few minutes. Please make sure your seat belts are fastened tightly. Thank you."

"Well, here we go. Back to Camp Half-Blood. I can't wait to see Hecate turn Leo into a 15-year-old version of himself. He's gonna be so upset." Hazel socked my shoulder but gave a small laugh as well,

"Yea, but I'll bet Will Solace as a 15 year old will be funnier. I can't wait to see Nico's reaction to it." We both laughed as the plane reached altitude and tried to relax. It was a long flight from California to New York.


	6. Chapter 6

PERCY

It's not everyday that you get to watch your gay cousin, who used to have a massive crush on you, talk to his boyfriend about taking a three-year quest. If it hadn't been such a tense subject, I think I might have laughed. I had offered my support and gladly would have stood next to Nico while he told Will about the quest, but he just gave me a hug, which was still kind of weird even after a year, and jogged over to where Will was reprimanding one of his siblings for cursing their friend to speak in rhyme. Even though I had planned on sending Annabeth an IM I decided to wait to see how Will took the news. I didn't want to eavesdrop, but c'mon, Nico is my cousin. I'm just looking out for him.

Will had led Nico to the edge of the forest and they were sitting with their backs to a large rock. I snuck around and attempted to climb a tree so I could see and hear them. Once I was satisfied that I wouldn't give away my position by falling I tried to listen quietly.

"...she appeared right behind Chiron and told us herself that she needed us to take this quest."

Will gave a low whistle, "She actually showed up herself? Man, if Lou Ellen finds out she's going to have a cow." Lou Ellen would have a cow. She was one fiery daughter of Hecate that's for sure. You definitely didn't want to be on her bad side.

"Well I think Hecate is going to come when Chiron announces why most of his senior campers are leaving for the next three years."

"Gotcha. Well get back to the quest. What exactly is going on?" Nico sighed, "Well, basically Hecate wants us to befriend a good wizard and unite a school against an evil wizard. This wizard, Harry Potter, he's turning 15 this year. He'll be in his fifth year at Hogwarts, that's the name of the school, and Hecate wants us to be there to become his friends. So in order for all of us to blend, Hecate is giving us magic and she's taking everyone out of their bodies now, and making us all fifteen. Well, those of us who aren't fifteen now. And, don't tell anyone I told you, but Chiron and Hecate think Percy will likely be the one of us who becomes Harry's friend first. Apparently they're a lot alike." Well, there goes that secret, I thought. But then giving it a moment longer to register, Will Solace kept the fact that he was gay a secret from everyone in camp for years. After he and Nico became friends and it started looking like they might feel something towards each other besides friendship, he didn't do or say anything that would be a complete giveaway until Nico was ready to step out of the closet and let everyone know exactly who he was. If anyone could keep a secret, it would be Will and Nico.

"Whoa. That's probably not even all of the details, but it's still a lot to take in. Well, are you going to ask me the question you've been dying to ask me ever since you got back from school?"

Nico slugged Will lightly and asked, "I have thought about this for the last several hours. How could I even begin to form this question? Asking you to give up three years of your life isn't something I would do lightly. I've lost so many people because of who I am. I even let myself become closed off to the rest of the world because I didn't think I could let anyone in ever again. Losing them would just hurt too much. But then, in the middle of the eighth worst day of the worst year of my life, you came running in with all black clothes and war paint up to your brilliantly blonde hair. You unceremoniously shoved your way past all of the walls surrounding my heart and pulled me, literally, out of the shadows. If I thought that there wasn't a chance I'd be in enough danger to not make it home, I don't think I would have asked. But the way Chiron and Hecate described this guy, I just don't know. And if it's not too much to ask of someone I've only really known for the last year, Sunshine, will you consider taking this quest with me?"

Will and Nico both had tears streaming down their faces. I even got a little choked up by Nico's speech. After he'd collected himself enough to talk Will pulled Nico into a hug,

"Death Breath, if you thought for even a moment that my answer would be anything but yes, we seriously need to spend more time together." Nico laughed into Will's shoulder,

"Well, you're the head counselor of your cabin, you have a lot of younger siblings that need you, I just didn't think it'd be fair to ask." Will let go of Nico and placed the younger boy's head on his shoulder intertwining their fingers and placed a kiss into Nico's hair. If I hadn't been trying to be so stealthy, I might have burst into tears. Looking at my cousin willingly touching another human being, a human being who was the complete opposite of everything Nico had ever known, was almost too much. I decided that I better leave before I fell out of the tree I was perched in. Will would be joining the quest and Nico would be able to focus on the task at hand.

As I left the forest, I started thinking about my own romantic relationship. Annabeth and I will have our third year anniversary this August. It's really hard to even believe. I'm going to be twenty years old this August. I was repeating my junior year of high school, because thanks to Hera I missed out on it the first time around, and I was going to be taking online classes all summer to get my GED by this fall so I could go to college instead of being the only twenty year old in high school. But now that there's a three year long quest I have to take, getting all my summer classes completed before July would be even more important.

But even more important than that was the fact that it would be really weird if Annabeth, who would be seen as a fifteen year old girl, was walking around with an engagement ring on her left hand. I'd been planning for months on how to propose to her. I'd even talked a little with Piper about all of it. The Fates just had to bring us into all of this wizard crap. I mean, how in Hades are any of us supposed to move on with our lives if we were sent off on dangerous quests every other year? I wanted to ask the only woman I've ever loved, besides my mother, the most important question I could ever ask her. I wanted Annabeth, my Wise Girl, to be my wife. But I would either have to put that on hold for the next three years, or I would have to be engaged for three years before I could do anything about it. I finally reached my cabin and walked over to the fountain. I pulled out a drachma and uttered the words,

"Oh, Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Annabeth Chase in San Francisco." The fountain shimmered and finally gave me an image of Annabeth's house. Apparently she was watching TV with her brothers. When I called her name she jumped a little and then smiled.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain. How was the rest of the school day?" Like I really wanted to talk about school.

"It went fine. I ended up being late for Paul's class but he didn't give me too much trouble. How was your flight?" She gave me a tired smile,

"The flight was really long. I was getting ready to go take a nap." Then she looked at her brothers who weren't paying any mind to the random head floating in their living room. When she turned back to me she had a worried look on her face.

"I haven't told my dad about the quest yet. I wanted to sit down with them as soon as I got here, but I just couldn't. My step-mom was so nice to me and was fussing over me a little like your mom does sometimes. I just didn't have the heart to tell them. I have to leave tomorrow after lunch and I still don't know what I'm going to say." She'd started tearing up and I wished more than anything I could have been there with her.

"Annabeth, it's going to be ok. Just talk to them and tell them the truth. Give them the drachmas Chiron gave you and let them know you'll get back to them about how often they can call. It'll be hard, but I know we can get through all of this together. And hey, my mom and Paul decided that they were going to move to Scotland with us. If you need her, she'll be there." She gave him a quizzical look after she'd blinked away her tears,

"Sally and Paul are coming to Scotland? Why?"

I sighed, "Well, my mom said that if it wasn't a normal quest then she could do whatever she damn well pleased. She seemed very determined to be there for us if we needed her. I know that I'll definitely take advantage of having my mom on a quest like this. Who knows if we'll actually get a chance to see her, but just knowing that she's there will be a big help." Annabeth nodded, but I could tell she wasn't going to have an easy time talking to her parents about this.

"Hey, Wise Girl," she looked up at me, "If you need me, just Iris Message me and I'll help explain as best I can from over here." She gave me a small smile,

"Percy, I," she paused as if she didn't know what to say. This was Annabeth, she always had some sort of plan. "I'm glad I have you. I don't know if I'd even be alive without you. I..."

''I love you too, Wise Girl. And as for being alive, I would have made the same choice." She smiled and gave me a wave.

"I love you Percy." I waved back as she cut off the connection. Gods, it was going to be a long three years.

STILL PERCY

Knock, knock, knock.

"Percy! You in there?" As much as I wanted to stay in my bed, I knew I needed to get up. It was nearing dinnertime and I'd already been asleep for like an hour.

"I'm decent!" Slowly the creaking front door to my cabin opened to reveal Grover had been the one who was looking for me.

"Hey Perce, I was wondering if you'd tell me what's going on." He came into the room and sat on Tyson's bed across from me.

"I don't need to know everything, but the Hecate campers swear that their mom was here." He gave me that look he gets when he knows I'm hiding something. He was the first friend I had when I came to camp, and he was the first best friend I'd ever had. I told him everything.

"G-Man, you can't let on you know anything. I want to tell you all of it, but I just can't. You get that, right?" He nodded. "It's gonna sound crazy, but it's not as bad as trying to explain the dam snack bar to Annabeth." We both laughed at that. I let out a sigh and began to try and explain this whole mess.

"Chiron woke the Seven and Nico up at 4 o'clock this morning. He said that he needed to tell us something. So we all get up to the Big House and he tells us that a friend of his asked for help. He goes on to tell us this story about a new group of mortals that have power over magic. Not just the Mist, but like all magic. These people live all over the world and are descendants from this group of mortals that Hecate blessed like forever ago. These mortals used to worship Hecate and thank her for the gift she'd given them, but after a few millennia she stopped hearing their prayers all together. They'd forgotten her. Gods and goddesses don't like that. So she curses one of these descendants and says that one day, an heir of his will become the greatest dark wizard ever. But then she tacks on that a descendant of his archrival will be the one to finally destroy this heir. The cursed descendant has risen, and the chosen one is still in school. Chiron's friend is the principal of the school and wants us to go help the guy fulfill his destiny. Hecate must feel bad for dooming all the children of her blessed mortals because she was here. She officially opened the quest and we all decided to go. The two biggest things that this quest requires are reliving puberty and leaving home for three years.

It actually supremely sucks now that I've thought about it. I mean, I'm going to be twenty this year. Annabeth's birthday is coming up and I was planning on proposing. And instead of all that, we're going to England to help save a world we didn't even know about 12 hours ago."

Grover took everything in stride, but reacted most to the word vomit I'd managed to spew at the end. "You were gonna propose to Annabeth? Like getting married and having a wedding with a best man kind of propose?" I had to laugh. Of course my best friend decides to focus on the one thing that can't happen now.

"Yea, buddy. I was gonna ask Annabeth to marry me on her birthday." All of a sudden there was a strangled cry coming from the part of my cabin where the fountain was. I turned and saw my half-brother, on the godly side, Tyson trying to dry his tears in a large handkerchief.

"Brother! I wanted to tell you that I was on my way to see you but friend Grover was talking. I heard your story about the magic goddess and how you will marry Annabeth. Do not hate me for listening! I'm sorry brother!" He resumed his crying and it took me a minute to calm him down. Even Grover, my Cyclops brother's favorite Satyr (yea, it's a long story), couldn't get him to stop crying.

"Tyson!" He looked up at me with his big round eye and gave a sheepish smile.

"I am sorry brother."

"Tyson, buddy, it's all good. I'm not mad that you overheard. But you have to know that you can't say anything to anyone about all this. You have to keep it all a secret. Can you do that?" Tyson had hurriedly stopped his crying and wiped his eye and gave me a proud look and smiled.

"Brother Percy trusts me to keep his secret. I will tell no one." He gave me a firm nod and I returned it. I wanted to say more but the dinner horn blew.

"Tyson, when are you coming? Are you coming today?" Tyson had a thoughtful look as he tried to remember.

"I will be at camp after all the eating is done. Maybe you could save me some food, brother?"

I smiled and said I would. Then I swiped my hand through the mist and cut the connection. Grover turned to me with a worried expression and asked the question I really hoped he wouldn't.

"Are you sure Tyson won't spill the beans?" No matter how much Grover loved Tyson, I knew that the animal instinct he had always shouted for the death of my brother.

"Tyson won't tell a soul. Ella probably already knows and Rachel will learn it from her, but I don't think we have anyone else to worry about. Let's get some dinner and we can talk more about it later, okay?" He didn't look satisfied but gave a nod anyway. As we walked through the camp to the pavilion, he pulled out an old soda can and began to chew away at it.

If there was one thing that I really liked about how camp had changed after the Second Giant War, it was the fact that Chiron and Apollo stopped enforcing the table rule. Instead of eating with our siblings at our house table, we could now choose who we wanted to share mealtime with. Generally I sat with Jason, Piper, Nico, Annabeth, Will, Lou Ellen, Lacy, Mitchel, Cecil, Katie, Connor, Travis, and maybe a few others. Tonight though, I almost wished I could sit at my house table and use the silence as personal-Percy-thinking-time. Tomorrow night, after Annabeth gets home, the ten who had accepted the quest would be transformed into magic wielding fifteen year olds.

Over the course of the next three months we would have to prepare for our quest in England. Hecate said we'd be given the knowledge of spells we would need to pass as good students of magic. We would probably be practicing how to use this magic while we got used to being fifteen again. I just wanted a little me time to process it all. I don't like being alone all the time, but eventually a guy needs some quality time with himself, his thoughts and the bottom of the Long Island Sound.

Despite my desire to sort out all of this for myself, I went over to what used to be the Poseidon table and sat next to Will. There were already a few people sitting down. Jason and Nico seemed to be in deep conversation across the table from me, and Piper, who was sitting on the other side of Will. After a moment Nico and Jason stopped talking and looked at the rest of us.

"So," Nico started, "Are any of you happy about being fifteen again?" Will laughed good naturedly, but I don't think there was any true humor in his laugh.

"I for one am not." Everyone turned as Leo and Calypso joined the table. They joined Jason and Nico's side of the table. "I mean, sure, we'll all be having a blast from the past, but I just got my growth spurt! I can't go back to being smaller than everyone! I think it'll ruin me forever!" Calypso took his hand and addressed the group,

"Well, in bodily form I have only reached the age of seventeen this year so for me it will not be as difficult I think. I spent millennia in my fifteen year old body." No one really had any room to complain after that.

"I think getting to use magic might be fun. It's not going to be boring that's for sure." That was Will, the eternal sunshine in the midst of whatever darkness we could think up. From the conversations I've had with him though, he didn't always feel the way his face portrayed.

Jason added his opinion, "Yea, I guess it will. It will be neat to see what their magic can do. We're all used to demigod powers so I'm curious to see how the magic will differ."

Nico rolled his eyes at that. "I don't really think it's going to be that different. What we do is basically magic anyway." We were all avoiding the massive elephant in the room.

"Guys, why don't we just be honest. None of us are really excited about this quest. It's going to be three years before we see any of our friends again. Some of us are leaving behind our mortal parents, and it's going to be really tough. Beating around the bush isn't going to help us at all. We have to be on the same page, all of us. I wanted to go because I want to help Harry. He's just a kid and even if he's got friends and these Weasley people, he needs all the support he can get. I know that we were all forced into wars and battles because of our heritage, but he doesn't have the monster problem or the heroes-are-often-used-by-the-gods problem. He's an orphan who got the short end of the stick because some idiot tried to interpret a prophecy. I don't know how he grew up, I don't know if he has a real family. But what I do know is that we will be going to England in a few months, and we will be given an opportunity to become friends with him and give him our support. That is why we are going. If battles come, then battles come. We protect each other, and we protect Harry Potter." Piper finished her spiel and left the table with tears in her eyes.

She must have been using her Charmspeak at least a little, because I felt on the verge of tears myself.

"She's right you know, we can't focus on ourselves this time. It's got to be about Harry. We'll be together, and we'll be a force to be reckoned with." I didn't even realize I was talking until I noticed everyone looking at me.

Jason gave me a small smile and a nod of solidarity, and then he went to find Piper. Nico and Will were both nodding and Leo was comforting Calypso who was probably the most affected by Piper's speech. Well, schist.

We were in for a long three years. "Well, one thing we can be happy about is that my mom and Paul will be there if we need them. They decided yesterday that they would get a house up in Scotland so that they'd be close if we needed anything." Knowing that everyone loved my mom, who wouldn't love her, I thought that might help. Calypso gave me a smile and Leo seemed relieved that she wasn't crying anymore.

I was about to get up to get Tyson the food I promised, but Chiron interrupted me. "Percy, I have just heard from Hazel and Frank. They have arrived at the Laguardia airport. Would you be willing to go retrieve them?"

"Uh, sure. But could you get some food for Tyson? He's coming to visit and I promised I'd get him some food." Chiron gave me a nod and then turned to go back to the head table.

"Well, I gotta go get Hazel and Frank from the airport. I'll see you guys at the campfire." They waved good-bye and said they'd save me a seat.


	7. Chapter 7

STILL PERCY

If there were one good thing that came from this quest, it would be the simple fact that we got to see Frank and Hazel again. With the camps being on opposite sides of the US, traveling was not an easy feat. There was also the whole problem with Frank being a Praetor now. Reyna had friends at Camp Half-Blood too. They couldn't both ever leave camp at the same time, and neither of them wanted to stay behind when the other left. It kind of sucked. When Frank and Hazel passed customs they pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Percy! It's so good to see you!" Before I knew it, I was wrapped in a big bear hug. I should know, I'd had one from Frank the Bear before.

"Good to see you too Frank. Hey, Hazel. How was your trip?" After a significantly lighter hug from her, I was given an answer.

"It wasn't too bad. It was long, that's for sure." I nodded. Even if I never flew when I could help it, I had made a flight from LA to NYC when I was twelve. It was probably the scariest moment of my twelve-year-old life. Fighting the war god Ares had seemed so peaceful compared to that flight.

"Well let's get you back to camp and try to catch the last of dinner." They nodded and Frank's stomach made the 'feed me now' sounds. Hazel and I laughed, as Frank became one red Chinese-Canadian. The ride back to camp was kind of long due to the city traffic. Luckily I'd lived in NYC my whole life and there are a lot of ways to bypass such traffic. It only took about ten minutes longer than usual to pull up to the camp. I helped Frank with the bags and we both told Hazel to head to dinner. I took Frank's bags to the Ares cabin as he took Hazel's bags to the Hades cabin. I figured he just didn't want me going where his girlfriend slept. I hesitated at the door to the Ares cabin for just a moment. I mean, when the residents of a place hate your guts it's always good to be alert when entering. I found an empty bunk and put Frank's bags down. Then I got out of there as fast as I possibly could. Once I got outside of where the land mines were I let out the breath I'd been holding. I silently promised myself that I would never again enter the Ares cabin without Annabeth or Frank at my side.

"BROTHER!"

I had a split second to relax all of my muscles before Tyson plowed into me and knocked me off my feet. Think of the worst car crash you've ever been in, and then multiply your injuries by ten and then maybe you'll understand what it's like to get run over by a Cyclops. I'd learned a long time ago that the best way not to get injured is to completely relax. Surprisingly, it works.

"Tyson, I'm not breathing."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Percy! Please, let me help you get up!" After he got to his feet my diaphragm (hey, Annabeth has taught me a lot) was able to expand and collapse like normal. I mentally checked for any pain but my whole body was throbbing a little. I took Tyson's hand when he offered it and let him pull me up.

"I'm happy to see you buddy. How was the trip here?" Tyson smiled again and I couldn't help but return it. He was by far the happiest, most friendly, most caring Cyclops I had ever met.

"I was able to borrow the current and get here faster. Rainbow (that's his hippocampus which is basically a water horse) was very fast. She is sad that you are leaving though. I am sad too, I will not see you for a very long time." I pulled his arm and threw mine around him. He and I have never been super close, but we are brothers. Half-brothers on the godly side, but we are brothers nonetheless. He returned the hug a little more gently this time and I felt one of his massive tears hit my back.

"Tyson, I'm going to miss you. But we can talk every week if you want. I'll let you know what time of day is good once I get where I'm going, but if that's something you'd like, I can make sure that I'm in the bathroom once a week so we can talk. It won't be the same as seeing you in person, but I think it'll be nice to at least see you and talk to you, right?" Tyson nodded and shook my whole body.

"Well let's go see if there's time to get some food before Capture the Flag." He released me and we walked towards the dining pavilion. We made it with a few minutes to spare so Tyson got to eat and I gotta finish what little food I felt I was able to stomach. My appetite had been greatly affected by the news of the quest. Jason kept giving me funny looks as I didn't eat all of my food, but I ignored him for the moment. Then, thankfully, Chiron took all of the attention off of me not eating as he made some announcements.

"Attention Campers. As you may have noticed, there are some Romans among us. If you will be patient, all will be explained. There have been rumors going around the camp and I would put an end to them. Lady Hecate was indeed here this morning. She will be returning to camp tomorrow evening to issue a quest and spend some time with her demigod children. Gods and goddesses do not often issue quests themselves, so if you are chosen be prepared for anything. Now, there will be a game of Capture the Flag tonight, and then at the campfire the Apollo and Ares cabins have a demonstration to put on. I know nothing of the nature of this agreement so please, do not ask. Lord Apollo, have you anything to add?"

Apollo had been listening to his iPod so I doubted he was aware of anything Chiron had said.

"No, nothing. Thank you Chiron." Chiron nodded and went back to his place at the table. I turned to Will who I had sat next to, again, and he put up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I'm under sworn oath to not tell anyone what's going to happen. I am not participating, and neither is Clarisse but that is all I can say without being cursed by my siblings." None of us were satisfied, but we accepted that we would just have to wait.

FRANK

Capture the Flag was nothing like the War Games at Camp Jupiter, and that was one of the reasons why he loved it so much. It wasn't about getting over a wall; it was about surviving in the forest without dying or being maimed. No one had died in Capture the Flag for over five years. Camp Jupiter's War Games had a much higher casualty list. Camp Half-Blood treated CTF like a game, but Camp Jupiter used the War Games as training for actual battle. He had given Hazel a kiss and then hustled over to the Ares cabin to ask which team his siblings were on. Ares usually sided against Minerva and with Mercury. The other cabins got divided evenly or unevenly. It was just a matter of who was acting friendly at the moment.

"Clarisse! Whom will we be fighting with in Capture the Flag?" She and I had never really seen eye to eye, but we both enjoyed winning. She gave me a grunt and then answered my question.

"Ares has allied with Hermes, Iris, Zeus, Nemesis, Nike, Hypnos, Hebe, Tyche, and Demeter. We have 103 campers on our side. The enemies are Athena, Poseidon, Apollo, Hecate, Aphrodite, Hades, Dionysus, and Hephaestus. They have 83 campers if all of the Aphrodite kids decide to play, which they don't. So they will more than likely have under 70 campers."

"Numbers don't always win the battle. They have Apollo, Hecate, and the Vulcan, I mean, Hephaestus. Those three cabins pack a lot of punch. I'm not saying we'll lose, but we can't just assume that because our force is greater that we will crush them. We have to keep our guard up." She sneered at me but nodded anyway. Like I said, we don't really get along.

"We have Nike on our side. The Nike children are just as fierce as any of the Ares kids. They always want to win. I think we will succeed." I nodded and headed to where I saw my duffel. Percy had picked a bunk that was kind of out of the way from the other campers. It was in a corner, which suited me, but it was also near the back door and was good for getting out quickly. I pulled my armor out and began to strap it on. Once I was finished I went to look for Hazel. I would have to fight against her, but I wasn't so into the game that I wouldn't say 'hi' before it started.

"Frank!" I turned to see Jason coming up behind me.

"Hey Jason. What's up?"

"I was heading to the Aphrodite cabin to see if Piper would walk with me to the campfire before Capture the Flag started. She gets really into it and since I'm not on her team it'll be even worse."

"I'm not on Hazel's team but she and I aren't as competitive when it comes to Capture the Flag. We love it, but it's just not like the War Games. This is like a sport and the War Games are more like, well, war. You get it, I mean, you were Roman first." Jason laughed and nodded.

"Well, you're right about that, I was Roman first." We shook hands and he jogged over to Venus' cabin. I had a hard time remembering to call the gods by their Greek names here, but the campers had either gotten over it or used to it because they didn't correct us when we visited anymore. Hazel and Nico were leaving their cabin as I got to the front door. They both smiled at me, but Nico headed in the direction of Apollo's cabin and Hazel stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey."

I smiled, "Hey, yourself." She gave me a hug and before I let her go, I pressed a kiss into her hair.

"So, we're on different teams again."

"Yea, but I'm betting that we won't have to fight. You and Nico will be looking for the flag and I'll be doing the same. We won't cross paths because you'll be underground." She laughed and took my hand in hers. I let her lead me to the campfire and we discussed the game the whole way.

STILL FRANK

The entire camp, minus some Aphrodite and Hypnos kids, were gathered around the large fire in the Amphitheater. Hazel and I separated at the entrance and sat with our respective teams. Chiron and Apollo were in the center waiting for us to settle down. When Apollo deemed that the campers who would be playing were all in attendance, he started the rules speech.

"Attention, demigods. Tonight's Capture the Flag should be very interesting. While Ares has chosen to take most of the camp as their allies, Athena has chosen to rely on the abilities of their own allies. We shall see if having more bodies outweighs having more demigods who possess more desirable skills. Now, as per the norm, please refrain from killing one another. Maiming is fine, but do your best to keep the maiming to a minimum. Use any weapon, magical artifact, or power you possess and most importantly, have fun! Athena, you are the Blue team, and Ares, you are the Red team. The boundaries are the same as always."

Apollo raised his hand in the air and a trumpet appeared. He raised the instrument to his lips and the demigods grasped their weapons tight. Once the trumpet sounded, a mighty shout rang out from the camp. Then the crowd began to head towards the forest. I followed my team out of the amphitheater and headed towards the far side of the forest.

Every time I had played capture the flag Mars and Minerva were always on opposing sides. With Annabeth leading the Minerva side of things and Clarisse leading the Mars side, the teams didn't really change a lot. But for the most part, Hecate, Neptune, and Hyperion always sided with Minerva. Mars usually had Mercury, Nemesis, and Iris. The other cabins got swapped more often than not. I had never been on Annabeth's team for CTF, but I held out hope that one day I'd get to play on her side. She wasn't the camp's best strategist for nothing. Even though she wasn't currently at camp, the team her siblings had picked was probably the better team. My team, the red team, held the side of the forest with Zeus' Fist and Annabeth's team, the blue team, held the other nearest the Mess Hall. Apparently Annabeth and Clarisse had flipped a Drachma over it earlier in the week.

"Red team, to me!" shouted Clarisse. She happened to be the loudest child of Mars I'd ever met. We headed deeper and deeper into the forest and ended at Zeus' Fist. Clarisse stood a head taller than most of the campers assembled, and she used that to her advantage.

"Hermes kids! You will be in charge of the middle ground! Anyone who violates the first line of defense will be running right into you! Demeter kids! You will be the second line of defense. Use the forest to your advantage and stop as many as you can! Jason, you take the Iris and Nike kids and hide the flag! Ares! We will take the Nemesis, Tyche and Hebe kids and attack! Get into groups of four and spread into the forest to search for the enemy. Frank and Chris will search for the enemy flag. Hypnos kids! Take your stance wherever you think will be most effective and make the other team drowsy! Try not to target our team. I know there are only three of you, but do your best! Does everyone understand?"

We all lifted our shields in response.

"Jason, take your team and go!" Jason gathered his campers and took the flag to go hide it in the woods. There were about three minutes left before we were going to be hearing the signal horn. I walked over to Chris to discuss strategy.

"So, which way do we head? Straight through the middle or do we follow the beach down to their side of the forest?"

Chris laughed, "Man, how about you turn into a dragon and we fly overhead?"

"Well, yea, I guess that could work." I didn't usually like turning into a dragon because it took a lot of energy. "But instead of a dragon, which might give me away, how about a big bird?" He shrugged and smiled, "Whichever works for you." I returned his smile and was about to ask how high he would be ok with me going when the horn sounded.

"Red Team! Away!" At Clarisse's words, we all shouted and ran into the trees. I transformed into my bird form and Chris hopped on my back. As I took off he grabbed me a little tighter than was necessary. I guess he wasn't totally prepared. I got above the trees in less than a minute and the view, as always, was spectacular. The sun was still hanging on in the sky and the clouds were deep reds and oranges.

When I looked back at the ground I saw the Blue team advancing on the river that divided the team lines. Tyson, Percy's Cyclops brother, was knocking out our troops with a large hammer that reminded me a lot of Leo's hammer from his tool belt. Tyson was always fun to play CTF with because he just had fun knocking everyone out. Some Apollo campers were standing away from him trying to slow him down, and fortunately they didn't see me. I caught a glimpse of what could have been Piper and Malcolm, one of Annabeth's siblings, battling it out with someone who most likely was Clarisse. I felt Chris lean forward closer to where my ears would have been.

"Hey! There are archers in the trees! Look out!" I looked into the trees and sure enough there were about seven Apollo kids in the trees. I veered left and shot down into the trees away from the archers. I landed and Chris jumped off as quickly as he could. Turning back into myself I looked at him and laughed,

"Well, someone doesn't like heights." He gave me a glare and replied,

"Don't say a word to anyone, Zhang." I laughed in response to the very faint threat.

"C'mon, we should be headed in the right direction. I think the flag is straight ahead." He nodded and followed after me. We had been walking for less than a minute when a skeleton stopped me in my tracks. It brandished its sword and charged me.

"Chris, keep going. I'll follow once I've finished-" I was cut off as three more skeletons appeared.

"Yea, I'm not leaving you with three on your own." We managed to behead all three rather quickly. I half expected more of them to pop up. As we ventured nearer to the location of the flag, I got my wish. Thirteen skeletons later we reached a small clearing where the blue team's flag rested against a tree.

"This is too simple. Hazel and Nico are here somewhere." Chris nodded his agreement. Out of the trees a mist settled over the ground.

"Hazel?" I called out for her to see if she would answer me. I didn't really want to fight her Mist powers, but I would if I had to.

"Frank?" Chris sounded scared.

"It's me Hazel." I held my finger to my lips and gestured for Chris to hide behind a nearby tree. Hazel appeared as Chris made it to a good hiding spot.

"Frank! You made it." She didn't seem happy at all that I was there.

"Well, I'm here for the flag. So either I fight you or I fight Nico, wherever he's at." She looked slightly to her left and I barely had time to raise my weapon before Nico came out of the shadows. But he had an unconscious member of my team being dragged by two more skeletons behind him. That meant they didn't know where Chris was.

"Well, Frank, I guess it's just you against us." I weighed my options and then fainted as though I would attack Hazel and when she drew her Cavalry sword I grasped my dagger and threw it towards Nico. When I turned back to him he had a dagger in his leg.

"Nico! Frank, you threw your dagger at Nico!" Hazel looked between us and the look on her face was a combination of horror and anger. She still held her Calvary sword in a defensive stance. I took the opportunity and transformed back into a bird and went for the flag. She took off towards Nico and tended to his leg.

"Will! Will! Nico's hurt!" I turned to look back at Nico and was met with a hilt to the head. Hazel had tricked me with the Mist, but I was expecting it. She knew I'd never hurt Nico on purpose so I used that to my advantage and took the blow. Chris had stepped up behind whomever's sword hit me and knocked them out. "You ok, Frank?" I nodded and rubbed where the hilt had met my head.

"Let's get going before it's too late." I transformed back into a bird and once Chris and the blue team's flag were on my back I took off. From the trees I heard the Apollo kids shouting to one another,

"They got the flag! Shoot them down!"

We made it to the river before we ran into any real trouble. Percy was the last obstacle in our way. I knew it was Percy due to the fact that there was a wall of water nearly 50ft high. From this height I doubt Chris could see Percy's face, but I had bird vision. It was a mask of determination and concentration. He'd gotten a lot stronger and was able to control a lot of water with little effort now. The wall of water he'd brought up was probably not even making him break a sweat. I had one trick up my sleeve that I preferred not to use, but I might just have to. Percy must have seen me because the next thing I knew I was dodging arrows and streams of water coming off of Percy's water-wall. Chris had stopped trying to contain his screams and I winced as he gripped my feathers just a tad too tightly. That, on top of trying to keep him on my back while dodging the enemy's attacks, was definitely not making this the easiest thing I'd ever attempted.

I tried to fly higher than the wall, but Percy would just raise the wall with me. It was time to try my secret weapon. I'd only ever practiced doing it when I was alone with a target closer to lights out at Camp Jupiter, but this was a good scenario to give it a field test. I circled back around and dove towards Percy. He looked slightly surprised, but his concentration never gave way. He sent stream after stream of water at me and I dodged each one. At the last moment I pulled up and sent my projectile straight for Percy's head. Being a rather large bird, it was a rather large mess. Gross as it was, it had the intended effect. Percy shouted his disgust and he lost his control over the river's water.

As the wall fell, I soared over into my team's territory and made an ear piercing bird-caw. I took the route back to where I thought our flag would be. Once I had it in my sights I went to the ground. Chris was still screaming when I landed us in the forest next to a very surprised Jason.

"Frank! You got the flag?" Chris rolled off of me dropping the blue team's flag unceremoniously on the ground and began to kiss the earth.

"Oh, sweet ground! I'll never fly again!" I laughed along with the other demigods assembled and cheered when the horn sounded. It was probably one of the most fun things I'd done since becoming Praetor over a year and a half ago.


End file.
